Osomatsu-San X Reader: Was it Fate?
by PrincessGarbage
Summary: The Matsuno Brothers find themselves in a sticky situation, their parents have abandoned them to fend for themselves, so they search for a roommate. When they meet this person, they are in for a surprise.. Disclaimer: No (Y/N) (F/C) etc stuff, the reader's name won't be mentioned, female reader, polyamory between you/(some?) of the brothers (per request) but NO INCEST (probably)
1. Chapter 1: Meet the NEETs

The 6 NEETs couldn't believe it, after the divorce scare they were sure they had convinced their parents to stay together (aka allowing their sons to continue to mooch off of them forever), but now.. "We realized you bunch of lazy NEETs were guilting us into staying together and providing for you, so we have decided to take some vacation time and focus on our relationship and lives again." Their dad said, their mom followed, "I don't even know who I am anymore.. It's not normal for a mother to have to care for her children for this long! We don't know how long we will be gone, so we are renting out the house." The brothers breathed a sigh of relief, that meant they would still be staying there, right? "Don't assume we are still going to let you run the place, if you can manage to pay the bills and keep everything running, great. If not, rent out the place or find some roommates who are successful members of society." Their jaws dropped, "B-But Dad, how are we supposed to—?!" "Bye Bye my little NEETs, good luck!" Their mom cut Osomatsu off, their parents slammed the door leaving behind a huge stack of papers.

"What the hell are we gonna do now? Damn it this sucks.." Osomatsu scratched his head while Choromatsu examined the papers, "These.. are all bills?! Instructions for bills.. Recipes.. Newspaper clippings with job ads… I guess mom wanted to give us some hope." "Let me see that." Todomatsu grabbed some of the papers, "E-EEEEHHHH?! IT COSTS THIS MUCH A MONTH?" He fell backwards and fainted, at this rate he would have to go back to his cafe job.. "It doesn't really matter what we do right? We can live here like hobos!" Jyushimatsu flapped his arms. "I-I don't want to be a hobo!" Choromatsu panicked. "My Brothers~" Karamatsu smiled, "In this time of need, all we must do is band together, our brotherly love will allow us to—" He clenched a fist, ready to deliver his line, but all his brothers had left the room.

— A few weeks later—

Choromatsu was being crushed under a mountain of garbage, "Where is everyone? What happened…" Jyushimatsu appeared out of the filth, "AAAAAAAAAVALANNCHEEEE! HOME RUNNNN!" He disappeared back inside, then pulled out Ichimatsu, "….Six pieces of garbage in this house was enough…" Jyushimatsu dove back in, this time throwing out Todomatsu, "Ahhh, I thought I was going to die in there…" Osomatsu appeared next, "Man… What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Muffled screams could be heard from the trash pile, but everyone remained outside, "Thanks for rescuing us Jyushimatsu." Todomatsu smiled happily, "If only mommy was here to rescue us from this disaster.." Osomatsu sighed as the screams continued and the trash began to shuffle around. Suddenly the power went out, "Eeeeeh, was it time to pay the bills already?!" Todomatsu whined, "How am I supposed to charge my phone now?"

Karamatsu finally managed to escape from the mountain, "Y-You guys.. Were you giving me a chance for a dramatic entrance?" He gleamed, Ichimatsu knocked over the mountain so it piled on top of Karamatsu again. "Really though, what should we do now?" Osomatsu sighed, "Hmm.. Well.. I guess we could follow their advice." Choromatsu murmured. His brothers, excluding Karamatsu looked at him in shock, "Y-You don't mean?.." "Maybe we should find some roommates. The house is big enough, and if we get enough of them we won't have to work at all!" "Hmm…" They murmured, "Maybe that would work out, it would be like having mom and dad back!" Karamatsu pulled himself out again, "I think we should find some sexy karamatsu girls to live here." "Baka!" Osomatsu smacked his brother, "Like any girl would want to live with you." That didn't stop all of them from thinking that idea would be amazing, although impossible.

—A few days later—

Choromatsu had been the only one of his brothers to actually try and find a roommate, but he hadn't had any luck with newspaper clippings, who used those anymore anyways? He looked online and everyone who he had approached turned him down. Maybe it was because his ad had a horrible description and a hefty monthly fee. Finally he got a reply in his inbox, it said "My only requirement is the house must have a large kitchen." He looked at his brothers, "We have a big kitchen right?" They turned to check, yeah the kitchen was disgusting right now, but it was nice. He typed a reply, out "We have a large kitchen. Do you want to come see the place? Here is the address: XXXXXXXX." "Is someone coming over to cook for us?.. I'm so tired of instant noodles and coffee." Todomatsu cried, he had gotten his old job back and was mostly eating cheap cafe food. "Chibita won't even serve us now.. We are that pathetic and broke.." Osomatsu sighed as well, "Maybe if we could just win big at Pachinko.." "Oh!" Choromatsu spoke, "They want to move in right away.." "Whaaa?" All the brothers huddled around, "What if he is a total weirdo? We don't get to meet him first?" Choromatsu sighed, "Well.. He's coming to town in a few days to move here and he liked the picture I sent of the kitchen so.." "What kind of guy even needs a kitchen? Sounds like this man won't be any competition for me." Karamatsu grinned. "Nee, should we clean up before he comes? What if he refuses to move in when it's so filthy?" Todomatsu asked only to be met by glares by his brothers, "Idiot! Why would we clean up when we have a new roommate who could move in and clean it for us!" "Besides.." Ichimatsu smiled sinisterly, "It sounds like he's trapped with us anyway.."

—Roommate Move in Day—

Phew.. You were really tired from carrying your luggage from the train station, but you were finally here. You didn't have to double check the address because the house looked mostly like the picture, it was a little.. messier though. You eyed the bags and piles of trash surrounding it.. Maybe it was trash day. You sighed, well, worst comes to worse you just find another place after bearing whatever was in store for you. You rang the doorbell, ready for anything.

"Hello!" The door opened to reveal A very happy looking man in a yellow sweater, E-EHH? You blinked a few times shocked, the man also looked shocked, "M-Maybe I do have the wrong address…" You pulled your phone out to double check, "Are you… Nyaan-Chan4lyfe2?…" The man just stared at you, still smiling wide but sweating up a storm, suddenly he pulled his hands in front of him and ran off inside, "N-N-N-N-NIIIIIIISAAAAAAN" He yelled loudly, suddenly he rounded the corner again, wait did he change clothes? "U-Um.." The man had been glaring menacingly, but when he saw you he immediately turned white, even his purple sweater drained of color. He fell over on the floor. "A-Ahh! Are you okay?" You rushed inside leaving your bags at the door, "Excuse me?.." You shook him a little, but he was foaming at the mouth, "O-Oh my god… Is he dead?!" Suddenly you were aware of the filth that surrounded you, "i'm the one who's gonna die, I can't live here?" The gurgling noise brought you back to reality, "Oh right, um…" You pulled his head onto your lap to raise it, as you were taught in first aid, so he wouldn't choke. For some reason, this made him gurgle worse and now he was bright red, "Does he have a fever?" You reached down to touch his forehead, but shockingly he was able to dart (crawl?) away from you at an alarming speed.

Suddenly, the man in the yellow sweater rounded the corner, still covering himself, "Twins?.." You murmured, the purple one backed into the opposing wall. Then four other guys in different colored sweaters rounded the corner behind the yellow one, "S-S-Six same f-faces?!" You jolted and stood up, what was going on?! You thought you had prepared for everything, but not this!

All six of them were now gawking at you, "Which one of you is… Nyaan-Chan4lyfe2?" You asked, trying to regain your composure. The green sweater shakily rose his hand, "B-Bullfrog61?…." You nodded, oh my god you were in the right place. Suddenly, a guy in sunglasses appeared next to you, "Geh!" You jerked as he had grabbed your hand and was raising it to his lips, "So.. A karamatsu girl did come to live with us after all?" The purple one was apparent ally feeling better, as he had knocked the other guy to the floor. "This is too much, this is so confusing! What is going on?" You exclaimed, and it got everyone's attention.

"U-Uh… I wasn't.. We didn't.. think you would be a girl?" The green one spoke quietly, "Your name was.. Bullfrog.." "And yours was Nyaan-Chan! I thought you were a girl?" Okay, calm down, this isn't that much different from your dorms at uni.. they were co-ed.. A dorm is pretty much like a house, maybe sharing a house with guys is the same? As you were lost in thought all of the brothers had managed to clean up the house in an instant, "What… How did you.."

Red sweater had stepped forward, he was blushing, "We're so sorry about the mess, that was just um…" "A TESTOOO! STRIKE 1!" Yellow exclaimed, "Yes, we were just trying to um, play around with the new guy coming in, as a joke!" Pink sweater nodded and smiled, "Oh… Okay then… So that's not a normal thing then?" You asked, all of them ferociously shook their heads, "I guess I should get my bags—" Suddenly they all were fighting to be the one to carry your bags inside, "Thank you?.."

You all sat down to discuss things, the Green one spoke, "So… Do you still.. Plan to.." "Oh, well, I don't really have anywhere else to go, and I was planning on staying here already. Did you change your minds?" They all shook their heads ferociously once more getting excited and beginning to have hearts in their eyes, "Okay, well then yeah it's fine with me." You eyed the kitchen, it was a nice one.. Remember, it's just like uni. "You're really okay with living with all men?!" The red one exclaimed excitedly drooling a bit, "Well, I—" You started, "Are you a porn—" All 5 of the others tackled him mid-sentence. "What was that?.." You asked, confused. "N-Nothing, ignore him." The pink one said, "What were you saying?" "Oh, well I was thinking about it, and as long as I have my own private room it will pretty much be the same set up I had in college." "HUUURKKKKK." You jolted, all of them looked like they had just seen a ghost. "C-C-C—C-C-College?…." The green one gurgled, "Yeah.. I just graduated—" "HHRKKK." They seemed to be pierced by something, "….Recently, and I was invited to come here to apprentice—" "AAAGN." They all started to foam at the mouth, maybe some genetic condition, you tried to ignore it as not to be rude, "…So that I can run my own patisserie one day." You finally finished, this time they had all collapsed on the floor, "S-So.. Much.. A-Aspiration…" One said, "So much.. D-Drive…" Another, "Such a.. strong will to live." Said the purple, "DREAMS!" said the yellow. "Ah.. Yeah, well that's normal for someone my age right?" "H-How old are you?…" The red one clutched his chest. "I'm twenty-two." Blood spurted out from their heads and you shrieked.

— Moments later—

"Are you sure you're alright?" You asked, a little nervous. "Yeah, yeah we are totally fine." The pink one said, you were getting tired of these color distinctions, "So.. You are… like Super Twins?" "It's SEXtuplets." The blue one lowered his shades to wink at you, you grimaced, and another shot stabbed him, where were these things coming from?! "I guess we haven't introduced ourselves, I'm Chor-" Green was cut off by red, "I'm the eldest son, Osomatsu!" "Karamatsu… That's what I'm known to some.." The blue one spoke, while he looked into the distance, where was he looking?! "Baka, you're known as Shittymatsu to everyone. I'm Choromatsu, the third son." Green smiled, blushing a bit. "…Ichimatsu." The purple one looked away. "Fifth son, Jyushimatsu, Muscle Muscle, Hustle Hustle!~" Yellow began to bounce around the room. "And I'm Todomatsu, the youngest!~" He smiled at you making a cutesy face.

They all bowed and said, "Nice to meet you. Please take care of us!" Eh? Is that something normal you say to your roommates? You bowed as well, was this really going to work out…..?


	2. Chapter 2: Work with the NEET

You had been apprehensive about your new living arrangement, after all, you were not only living with six men, but six identical brothers who were each a hand full on their own. You sighed as you were getting ready for work, one of them was screaming about something again. Rolling your eyes you began the count down, "Three… Two… One…", a loud crash and the sound of a brawl, right on cue. You had only been here for one day, but the brother's cycles were endless.. And predictable.

You looked in the mirror, preparing yourself for the day with a pep talk, you wouldn't let anything ruin your first day of apprenticeship! You clenched a fist in determination, "Nothing else matters, you can do this.. You can move out if it comes to that, but right now you have to focus! This is what you have worked so hard for." You nodded at your reflection and turned to the door. Facing you through a crack in the door was one of the brothers, all you could make out was a huge open smile, which creeped you out enough to scream. "It's just me, Jyushimatsu!" he said loudly, "Oh….. Right. Sorry, you scared me.. Maybe knock next time?" He nodded enthusiastically, "Well, what is it that you want?.." You tried not to sound rude, he paused, "Baseball?" Uh… You noticed he was wearing a baseball uniform, "Oh, I'm sorry Jyushimatsu, I'm on my way to work.. Maybe next time?" His blank smile remained, but somehow you knew he was disappointed, "Okay! Muscle Muscle, Hustle Hustle!" He marched away from your door, continuing his chant. "Alright then.." You double checked that you had everything and walked out your door.

The brothers were scrambling around the kitchen, fighting over the scraps of food they had, miraculously, managed to put together and arguing over what they should eat and who should cook it. You thought of asking if this happened every morning, but decided you didn't want to know the answer. Thankfully, you didn't want to eat breakfast anyway, you would eat at work later, so you didn't enter the fray in the kitchen. Instead, you tried to quietly sneak out the door. "Hey, wait!" Crap, one of them spotted you, you turned to see one of them in a trendy outfit with a satchel bag walking behind you, "Are you off to work?" "Oh, yes.. I am, so, I'll be seeing you later then?" You forced a polite smile, breathing a sigh of relief that the other four were preoccupied. "Ah, well actually I'm heading out to work too!~" He boasted, which was odd, isn't having a job normal at our age?

You both walked out the door together, "So, where is your bakery at?" "It's a pâtisserie, I mean, they're similar, but.." You sighed, "I guess it doesn't really matter." "No, no! If it's important to you of course I want to know about it." He winked and pulled out his phone, "By the way, we should probably exchange information since we are roommies now." Oh, you pulled out your phone to exchange, "Well, a bakery is more for bread and such in bulk, but a patisserie is a french style sweets shop. We can make novelty sweets, sweet bread, regular breads, all kinds of things!" You were getting a little fired up, "I went to culinary school in the states, but my focus is in sweets." You nervously chuckled a bit, "Sorry for the overload, and the place I am apprenticing at is in the shopping district about 20 minutes from here." "WOAH!" You turned to look at him, "I work at the Sutabaa near there!" "No… way…" You tried to sound as excited as he did, but it wasn't quite working. When you turned away from him, you thought you saw a sinister expression on his face, causing you to turn back to look at him again, but he was smiling and blushing cutely, "I guess that means we will be walking to work together!~" "Yeah, it is nice to have someone who knows where he's going lead the way." You smiled back, but you couldn't shake the face you _knew_ you saw. Maybe you were just imagining it..

As you walked the rest of the way, you finally placed the right name to this brother, so by the time you arrived at his work, which was a few minutes closer than yours, you were able to thank him properly for walking with you. "Thank you for making sure I didn't get lost, I can make it the rest of the way since we are pretty close." You bowed slightly, "I'll see you later Todomatsu." He smiled, "You can call me Totty, if you want to.. I was happy to walk with you, it was fun!" "Alright then, have a good day at work Totty!" You smiled, waving as you turned to walk to work.

Todomatsu clutched his chest, as soon as you had turned away, the sinister look returned and it took everything he had not to giggle like a maniac, 'My brothers are going to be soo jealous, I get to walk with her every day!~' he thought, composing himself before he went inside to work.

You arrived at your work and was greeted by your mentor, "Thank you very much for this opportunity, I will do my best and will not let you down." You bowed deeply. "There is no need to be so formal, your professor and I go way back, so when he showed me your portfolio I had to invite you to apprentice with me." The woman smiled at you, "It's great to finally meet you, my name is Rinko, your uniform is in your locker." She handed you a key, "Please change and then you can help me set out the displays. Normally I would ask you to come earlier to help make the desserts, but since it was your first day I didn't want to put too much stress on you." "I'll change right away, thank you!"

You looked at yourself in the mirror, this uniform was super cute.. It was a french themed classic take on a waiter's outfit. You had a black skirt with a black apron, underneath was fluffy white ruffles that matched the white long-sleeved shirt you wore. On top of that you had a black vest on, and around the collar of your shirt was a ribbon. However, the best part of your uniform was definitely the beret, it completed the look. It was black with a ribbon on the back, all of the ribbons happened to be your favorite color, which was a perfect accent to the classic black and white theme of the outfit. Although you were definitely loving the uniform, you didn't come here to wear cute clothes!

You came here to become a successful pastry chef!

It turns out, even though it was your first day, you still learned a lot through **a lot** of hard work. Making the displays perfect was a constant challenge, you were adjusting and restocking the displays between customers. It was also important to make sure the goods remained fresh, so Rinko would make fresh sweets with her baking team while you mostly manned the front register. This was totally not what you had in mind, you hadn't even touched a spatula today, let alone made any pastries! You weren't going to let that get you down though, everyone has to start somewhere.

You were walking out after cleaning up and changing, Rinko had praised you for your work today, saying she was impressed with how you handled being under pressure from the customers and that you volunteered to stay late to clean up. You didn't know how popular her shop was even though your professor had warned you, but tomorrow you would be prepared! As you continued to walk home you spotted Todomatsu waiting outside his shop.

"Totty?…" You approached him, "Hey! There you are, how was your first day?" He smiled at you, "It was.. It was good!" You were able to cling to your optimism, "What are you doing out here? Are you still working?" He chuckled, "Well, I was waiting for you to get off of course, I wouldn't want you to get lost going home." In reality, he wanted to be the first one to hear about your day and spend some more one on one time with you before those five demons ruined it. You blushed lightly, that was really… kind of him, maybe the brothers aren't as intimidating.. and obnoxious… as you originally thought. "Thank you very much.. Were you waiting long?" You started to walk together, "Oh no, only about an hour or so!" "A-A whole hour?!" You jerked, "I'm so sorry, you don't have to wait for me!" He laughed loudly, "Don't worry about it, really! It's fine. I wanted to wait on you, silly." He winked again, making a pistol with his finger. "Well… Okay then." "So tell me about your day." He asked as you walked home, which prompted you to vent about your expectations and the reality of what happened for the entire twenty minute walk.


	3. Chapter 3: Baseball with the NEET

AN:Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, school's starting up again so you know how that goes. I tried to make this one longer to make up for it. Please let me know what you think! I have some secrets to reveal and some ideas for the other bros, just let me know who you want to see next 3 thanks for all the support! ALSO! I sometimes do little doodles based on my ideas, would you guys want to see them even though they're just in my notes? They're what i imagine our reader-heroine to look like and certain scenes from the story! But they are truly just doodles. I could put them as the image for each chapter or something? is that something you would be interested in or would it spoil what you imagine (you) the reader to look like?

Jyushimatsu was taking your "maybe next time" offer very seriously, as he was at your door every morning asking if you wanted to play baseball every day, eventually you got a little frustrated. "Jyushimatsu, I'm sorry, but I really can't play baseball all day because I work! So stop asking me every day!" You saw his excited smile droop a bit, "Okay!" He just walked out. Augh! You slammed a palm to your forehead, you shouldn't take out your frustrations on poor Jyushimatsu! All he wanted to do was play some baseball. You sighed, "I'll make it up to him, we are roommates after all… But for now, work!" You grabbed your work bag and headed out to walk with Totty, as you did everyday. At work you had started to get their earlier than before to help prepare for the day, you were surprised that Totty had work that early too. Your thoughts kept drifting back to your outburst from the morning, you sighed, you needed to concentrate or your mentor would notice and think you weren't dedicated.

"I think I hurt Jyushimatsu's feelings this morning, Totty." you unloaded on Totty on the way home after work. "Jyushimatsu? Nah, I wouldn't worry about it, he takes a lot to make him upset." Totty chuckled, "Well.." You thought for a moment, "Even if he isn't upset, I still shouldn't have lashed out at him like that. It wasn't right of me regardless, so I should at least apologize… And probably play some baseball." You laughed lightly. Totty stared at you and smiled very slightly, "You really care, don't you?" "Well, it's in my nature I guess, plus y'all are my roommates! I want to be friends and get along with everyone." You smiled, you were getting used to the loud, excitable, and sometimes overbearing brothers, even if you didn't know them better quite yet. Totty giggled, "You're too kind!" and then he looked away secretly grimacing, Jyushimatsu better not steal her away from me..

Since it was finally Friday, you had tomorrow off. Working five days a week is tough, but it will all be worth it in the end! You decided to practice baking the sweets that Rinko's shop served over the weekend so you could impress her next week with improved performance. You began to rummage through the kitchen to take stock of the ingredients available and make a list of things you would need to buy tonight. Suddenly, someone barged in through the door, "Hustle Hustle, Muscle Musc-" Jyushimatsu stopped as he saw you in the kitchen, he was totally filthy and sweaty. "J-Jyushimatsu! Um.. How was your day?" You asked, you were a little nervous since you didn't know if he was upset with you. "I played baseball!" He beamed and acted out some baseball moves, "Sounds like fun.. Hey, do you want to go to the store with me? I wanted to talk with you." He stared at you for a moment with his gaping smile, and shook his head rapidly. "Okay great, I can wait for you to get cleane—" You started, but he had already dashed to his room and back refreshed and in a clean outfit. "Oh, okay then, um" You quickly reviewed your list and finished looking at ingredients, "Okay, I'm ready too!"

"Thank you for going with me, I hadn't even thought about it, but I actually don't know the way to the store." You chuckled nervously and playfully tapped your head with a fist, "I'm pretty thoughtless sometimes, I would have totally gotten lost. I was also thoughtless this morning.." Jyushimatsu looked at you curiously, "I'm sorry I blew up on you like that, It's just my first week at my apprenticeship has got me all wound up, I want everything to go perfectly!" You sighed, "Anyways, I just wanted to apologize to you, I hope you aren't upset with me.. And since it's the weekend now and I'm off work.. I was wondering, if you wanted to play baseball with me tomorrow?" His eyes and smile widened, "1, 2, 3, HOMERUN!" He bounced around you excitedly, which freaked you out a little, but you couldn't help it and busted out laughing, "You're so funny Jyushimatsu!" You laughed clutching your sides, "I'll take that as a yes then. I'll make us some lunch then for tomorrow." He gasped, still smiling, "Really?" He bounced around more and grabbed your hands with his sleeves, "Thank you so much!" Well, I guess that makes up for being a jerk this morning, you laughed. He kept holding your hand as you walked to the store, which surprisingly you didn't really mind. He sort of reminded you of a child at an amusement park, who gets so excited about baseball and a homemade lunch?

When you got home all five of Jyushimatsu's brothers were waiting at the door, "What were you both doing out together?!" Osomatsu asked loudly, you were a little taken aback, "We just went to the store, I needed some ingredients for work and for the house in general." "Ooooh, are you going to make us dinner then?" Osomatsu asked, all of their mouths started to water on cue. "Um, I guess I could." Everyone but Choromatsu cheered loudly, "A home-made meal that doesn't taste like shit?! It's been soo long!" Choromatsu huffed, "If you don't like my cooking any ONE of you could have helped!" You started to laugh again, it felt nice to laugh so much and around the sextuplets you were always laughing (along with massaging your temples from stress). They all stared at you while you laughed, thinking how cute you were.

While you all ate together, after they had all thanked you repeatedly, Todomatsu spoke up, "So are you off all weekend? That's so lucky~ I still have work tomorrow." "I'll have to work some weekends I'm sure, but my mentor didn't want to overload me on my first week!" you answered. "You sure are dedicated, let me know if you ever need a relaxing Karamatsu Massage for my special Karamatsu Girl.." Karamatsu adjusted his sunglasses smiling at you mischievously. You ignored the suggestive comment, "Of course I'm dedicated, this is my dream after all. I plan on practicing some of the sweets after dinner, so you all can taste test for me if you like." All of them brightened up, "A homemade meal and now sweets?.. You're too kind to us." they fake cried in happiness. You laughed, "Well, I need to start on them now since i'll be busy tomorrow with Jyush—" A yellow sleeve quickly covered your mouth, "She'll be busy Juicing!" Thankfully for Jyushimatsu, everyone was too preoccupied celebrating how amazing you were at cooking dinner and anticipating dessert to pay much attention.

You quickly realized the brothers were too hyped for you to get in any real practice, as they were floating around you asking what something was or how you did something. You only managed to make one batch of mini strawberry shortcakes as they buzzed around you, but you didn't mind. You were laughing a lot, feeling happy and not worried or stressed. You were beginning to feel really at home here.

The next morning there was a knock on your door bright and early, "Wha…." You rubbed your eyes and heard another knock. "What time is it…?" You yawned and looked at the clock, 6AM?! You opened your door to see Jyushimatsu dressed in his baseball uniform and holding one out for you, "1, 2, 3, SWINGG!" He said and gave you the uniform, you weren't sure how well it would fit since it was his size not yours, "You.. want me to wear this?" He nodded, blushing a little, "You need a uniform to play baseball, that's what my mom says." "Well, can't argue with that.. So.." You yawned again, "We have to play baseball this early?" He nodded, "Hustle Hustle!" Then he flexed, "Muscle Muscle!" "Alright, I respect your dedication. Let me get changed." He nodded again, blushing a little more, and walked out.

You hadn't made lunch last night, so you decided to make a bento this morning with some leftovers and other things you could whip up quickly, you tried your best to be fast and quiet since the other five were still asleep and Jyushimatsu had taken lots of care not to wake them for some reason. "Can I make yours?" Jyushimatsu asked you. "Oh, yeah! If you want to." He nodded enthusiastically, as was his go-to response to you. You asked him if he had ever made a bento before, which he hadn't of course, so you showed him how to strategically place things so that everything will fit, and how to make cute designs with the food. To demonstrate, you made him a little baseball in his bento. He gleamed at that, and then turned to make yours in a flash hidden from your view. When he was finished you headed to the baseball field, or so you thought.

He actually led you on a run to warm up, which you begrudgingly did. Then you stretched and did some light exercises. Baseball was a lot of work, did he do this everyday? Finally you made it to the baseball field, but you had forgotten to mention one thing… "Um.. Hey Jyushimatsu, I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but I don't actually know how to play baseball." He looked at you quizzically, "I can teach you!" He picked up a bat, showed you how he was holding it and his stance and took a few swings. "This isn't really the part I'm worried about.. More of hitting the ball." You hadn't flexed your muscles, besides your pastry-making muscles, since high school , but you certainly could swing a bat… Not that you really liked to remember what you were like back then.. You shook your head, and those memories away as Jyushimatsu handed you the bat. It felt comfortable in your hands, and you took a few swings in the air. Jyushimatsu clapped, "Let's try hitting a ball now! Just focus on the ball and 1, 2, 3 SWING! HOMERUN!" He spun around as he backed up to the base. Okay.. Focus on the ball. You got into the stance he showed you and gripped the bat tightly, "Ready! GOOOOO" He tossed the ball at you, trying to throw an easy hit. You closed your eyes as you swung the bat, THWACK. "I think I hit it!" You opened your eyes, "Did I hit it?" You asked excitedly, only to see a Jyushimatsu laying flat on his back, "Oh my god!" You threw the bat down and ran over to him, "Are you okay?" Tears started to come to your eyes and your face felt hot, you were so embarrassed, "I'm so so SO sorry!" He sat up and smiled at you happily, a black eye forming, "You hit it! That was AMAZING!" He jumped up and hugged you, "I'm OK!" You sniffled a bit and he jumped back in surprise, he panicked trying to make you feel better, making funny faces and bouncing around. You wiped your eyes and laughed a little, "I'm sorry.." He shook his head ferociously, "I'm TOUGH!" and he made another face with his now swollen eye. You remembered how you promised.. back then.. never to hurt anyone again, but maybe accidents don't count? "Maybe we should take a lunch break.."

After apologizing about a thousand more times, Jyushimatsu had really assured you he was fine so you sat down to eat. He looked so happy as he ate his bento you couldn't help but smile. You were a little nervous to open yours, but you did. It wasn't as neatly made as yours, and had way too much sauce on it, but it was sweet. He had tried to make a baseball for you, but it looked more like a blob. He also managed to make a sloppy heart. You didn't think anything of it, heart were really common in bento and were easy to make. You giggled at his efforts, "You did a great job for your first bento, Jyushimatsu!"

After lunch, you did not want to bat anymore out of fear of hurting him further, so he taught you how to pitch balls to him instead. He actually really liked that because no one would hardly ever pitch to him for practice. When you were about to go home for the day he handed you the bat again, "What if I hit you again?.." He shook his head, "Well.. Okay, but watch out just in case." You hesitantly tried batting one more time, he wound up and threw the ball harder this time, you hit it SMACK, right out of the park. He stared at the ball flying into the distance for a few moments and then at you. "Wow, lucky hit I guess!" You said. He just gaped at you, "Umm…" You shifted awkwardly, he had butterflies in his stomach and hearts in his eyes as he ran up to you and spun you around, "HOME RUN HOME RUN HOME RUN!" He was stronger than he looked, picking you up with ease like that, "It was just luck, I'm sure!" You giggled, "Let's head home."

When you got back everyone was waiting at the door again, looking very angry and jealous. "Holy shit, what happened to your face Jyushimatsu?!" Osomatsu snapped out of it looking at him, "Did he.. Make a move on you? You must hit hard.." Ichimatsu shuddered, "N-NO! Nothing like that! It was a total accident." You exclaimed, blushing. "Wait, are you wearing his clothes?!" Totty pushed the other four out of the way, he turned to Jyushimatsu and made the scariest face you had ever seen. Suddenly they grabbed him forcefully and ran out of the house. "Okay then.. Guess I'll shower and get started on dinner."


	4. Chapter 4: Sing with the NEET

Ever since you returned from your game with Jyushimatsu a few weeks ago, the brothers have been acting strangely around you. You had thought that they would be more comfortable and relaxed around you by now, but they haven't. When you walked into a room they would all suddenly go quiet, watching you to see what you would do. The only two who acted completely normal was Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu. When the others saw you with Jyushimatsu, they would all freeze up like stone walls. If you were one on one with any of them, save for Jyushimatsu and Totty, they would act incredibly awkward, frigid, or in Osomatsu and Karamatsu's case, speak in nothing but gibberish. Karamatsu would begin to recite poetry, song lyrics, or any other random phrase or pieces of life advice, which he did before, but now it was nothing but stopping and starting different ridiculous sentences! Osomatsu was the worst though, he was tipsy almost constantly and would always hint at something or start to ask you a question, but his brothers would carry him off or shut him up before he could finish.

You weren't sure what all this was about, and any time you had tried to ask Totty about it on the way to and from work or on your breaks, which you had begun to spend less and less time together on due to an increase in business on your part, he would flush and change the subject. One time you almost got it out of him, but even though he was getting close to spitting it out, he started to bang his head against a wall! This was all getting too much for you, but frankly you had been so busy at work lately you weren't able to devote your full attention to your personal life or problems.

Thankfully, today was your last day before the weekend, and you really needed the break. You quickly finished closing up the cafe and changed out of your uniform, knowing that Totty was probably waiting for you at his coffee shop to walk home. You spotted him easily and waved, "Totty!" He smiled and waved back and you began the walk home together. "I am so ready for a relaxing weekend." You stretched, "I have been working really hard lately, it's not all fun and games training to become a top pastry chef." He giggled, "I just know that you can make it!~ You work so hard every day, you'll totally climb to the top of the pyramid!" You blushed slightly at the compliment, it was nice that someone was appreciating your hard work, "Wow, thanks Totty! That was just what I needed to hear, you're always so encouraging to me. I'm lucky to have such a nice friend as a roommate." He suddenly turned pale white, "F-Friend?…." His heart sank, "Well yeah, of course we are friends! I like to think I'm friends with all six of you, even though I haven't really gotten to know the others as well yet." You misinterpreted his feelings, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He jerked and looked at you with tears in his eyes, "You seem to be close enough with Jyushimatsu!" "W-What?!" You gaped, surprised. Totty caught himself, embarrassed to have spoken out like that instead of his usual cute persona. He froze for a moment not sure what to do, and instead ran away towards the house, which was luckily only a block away.

"Totty, wait!" You shouted, very confused and chased after him. He was surprisingly fast, and in your haste to catch up you ended up stumbling on a crack in the road. "Oof!" You fell down, skidding your knee. "Princess~" A voice called out to you, "Your knight in shining armor… Has arrived!" You looked up to see Karamatsu extending a hand towards you, "Or shall I carry you home, instead?~ The shining gesture of true love— how a man truly shows how he feels— carrying someone over the boundaries of— the gates of—" By this time, you had already picked yourself up as he was blathering on, "Thanks Karamatsu, but did you see Totty?" "Hm, yes.. I did see my ~brother~ running into our house, I was on our roof— as close as one mortal man can get to the heavens— only to see that the only star I wanted to see was here on the ground instead." "Um.." You weren't sure what he was saying. "Okay, thanks. I think he's upset with me.. I need to go see what's wrong." He nodded at you and started to say something else, but since you were in a hurry you just grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the house. You didn't notice, but of course he turned bright red at your touch.

"Totty?" You opened the door and called out. You could hear wails from the other room, but were faced with the other four brothers staring you down. "W-What in the world is going on here?!" You felt a little intimidated and VERY confused. "I told them we went on a date, and now all this!" Jyushimatsu said with his signature smile, while his brothers looked at him in shock, "H-He actually said it!" they stammered in unison while Totty's wailing quieted for a moment as he listened to your response. "What?!" You face-palmed, but actually… Hm.. You put your hand to your chin thinking, well it was just the two of you doing an activity together, you did make lunch together and ate it together, and you even wore his clothes! "Wow, I guess it was a date." You said nonchalantly. Jyushimatu's eyes lit up and he grabbed you to swing you around the room happily. Totty reaction was not quite as chipper, as you heard his wails increase and a new banging noise happen. The other brother's looked like they had been murdered and were lying down in pain.

All of this was absolutely crazy, but you couldn't help yourself and ended up giggling at Jyushimatsu's incredibly happy reaction, "Jyushi-bee, put me down!" He paused, but still held you up with ease, and repeated what you had said in english, "Bee?" "Oh, just something I had been thinking about, you remind me of a bumblebee! You buzz around all excited all the time, you're always wearing yellow, and it rhymes with Jyushi.. It's kinda silly huh?" Jyushimatsu looked even more excited if that was possible and pulled you into a tight hug, obviously pleased with the nickname. You had momentarily forgotten about the despair of the other five, but were promptly reminded by the injured brothers, including Totty, brandishing weapons and muttering Jyushimatsu's name sinisterly, the nickname was the breaking point for them.

"H-Hold on, you are brothers don't act like this!" You pulled away from Jyushimatsu and stood protectively in front of him, "It really isn't that big of a deal! Jyushimatsu and I have just gotten a little closer recently, which I think is a great thing, because we have spent some quality time together. I want to spend time and get to know all of you, we're roommates for crying out loud. There's no need to go to war over one silly date. I spend time with Totty everyday at work and you aren't attacking him." At this they froze and all glared at Totty, apparently this was news to them. Attempting to get both Jyushimatsu and Totty out of trouble you changed the subject, "What I'm saying, is that I'm sorry that I haven't been able to hang out as much with everyone, but I really do want to! I've just been so busy lately. Please don't fight, I promise I will try and work out my time better." You bowed slightly.

They all looked at you, a little confused and in shock, Karamatsu is the first to move. He kicks out a leg dramatically and leans it against the wall next to you, you had hardly made it past the door, "Are you.. trying to kabe-don me?" You say staring at him quizzically. Karamatsu chuckled, sliding his shades down to look at you 'cooly', "Are you saying, ~princess~, that you want to go on a date with me?" You were trying to recover from his bizarre pose, which you were impressed at his flexibility, "I mean, I guess so yeah. That's one way to get to know you better." Suddenly he lost his balance and fell over, his glasses hanging half off his face, "W-What?! You really m-mean it?" His other brothers looked just as shocked as he did, especially Jyushimatsu. You couldn't help yourself again and laughed, offering him a hand to get up, "Yeah, why not? I just promise all of you to spend more time with you and make a better effort to be friends. Plus, dates are fun!" You helped a, for once in his life, speechless Karamatsu up, only to have Totty tackle hug you which knocked Karamatsu down again. "I'm sorry I yelled at you! Let me make it up to you too, let's go on a really fun date soon!" Totty hugged you tightly and cried a bit while blushing, "Aww, Totty!" He looked so cute, you just wanted to coddle him, "That sounds like fun, I'll try to be better at taking my breaks at work too, okay? I'm sorry I hurt your feelings." You held him and he nuzzled into your shoulder, secretly looking at his brothers with an intimidating look filled with determination. "H-Hey, she agreed to go on a date with me first!" Karamatsu started, "We played baseball before that! It was the FIRST date! Special first baseball HOMERUN DATE!" Jyushimatsu chimed in as well. Soon all the brothers were yelling and trying to pry Totty off of you. For some reason, even though you knew you should be appalled, you were laughing so hard you were crying.

Karamatsu had insisted that he needed the night to plan your date, so it was put off until Saturday. This was totally fine with you since you were exhausted from work and the bustle that greeted you when you got home. You got dressed for the day, since you were going on a 'date' today you thought it would be a fun opportunity to dress up a bit. You picked out a cute outfit, some shorts-overalls with a cute blouse underneath it and stockings with booties. After checking yourself out in the mirror you headed out to make breakfast, you were feeling especially refreshed this morning but it seemed like you were the first one up for the day.

As you stood in the kitchen making some cinnamon rolls that would be perfect for the morning, you began to sing one of your love-to-hate songs that was popular on the radio in America where you had studied abroad for college. Singing in English was always fun for you, since that's the music you had been listening to the most for the two years you were abroad. It was pretty normal for you to sing or listen to music while you baked, but you had forgotten that you were living with six guys now. "You sound like an ~angel~, my Karamatsu girl." You heard a voice behind you and jerked, almost dropping the dough you were kneading. "Y-You scared me! Did I wake you up, sorry I forgot that I wasn't alone." He smiled putting a hand to his chin, "If only I was lucky enough to be woken up by your beautiful voice every day, then I would be able to die a happy man." You chortled, "Beautiful is an overstatement." You tossed him a towel, "Why don't you wash your hands and you can help me roll the cinnamon rolls? I've already made the filling and the frosting, they just need to be put together and baked."

Karamatsu was pretty messy in the kitchen, his rolls were lopsided and he had kneaded the dough so hard it tore. "Here, let me show you." You took his hands, dipped them in flour, and showed him how to properly shape the dough. After you had made a semi-perfect roll together you let go of his hands to praise him only to realize he was sweaty and flushed bright red. "Oh sorry, the oven makes it hot in here doesn't it? I'm really used to it so it doesn't bother me anymore. I can finish these by myself, don't worry about it!" He nodded shakily, "Yes.. It is so hot in here.. From the oven… Like my burning heart!" He left the kitchen walking backwards while pointing finger guns at you. He proceeded to trip, but picked himself up and left quickly. You giggled a bit and put the rolls in the oven.

The other brothers came out before Karamatsu returned, "It smells so good in here! What are you makin'?" Osomatsu inhaled the smell deeply. "Cinnamon rolls for breakfast! They're just about ready to come out of the oven. Jyushimatsu jumped to help you, "Look, Look!" He pointed to your overalls and then to the overalls he was wearing, "We match! Buzz, Buzz, Batter OUT!" He pointed to his brothers mischievously. "We do match! That's funny, Jyushibee." You got the rolls out of the oven as he held the door open. Choromatsu got plates for everyone and glasses for some milk and juice. You all sat down to eat when you realized Karamatsu wasn't out yet. The five others started to eat without him, but you thought you should go check on him.

"Karamatsu?" You knocked on the brother's bedroom door, "You in there?" You heard what you thought was a 'yes' so you opened the door. What you saw was Karamatsu standing in front of a mirror in a suit mumbling to himself and half-way crying. "Karamatsu?" You called out softly, a little confused as to what you were looking at. "O-Oh! I didn't see you there, p-princess. I-I.." He stammered, "What's the suit for?" You smiled, already knowing the answer, "I wanted to look my best for our date.. Standing next to a glimmering angel is a true honor." "I don't think you need to go that far, Karamatsu. Don't get me wrong, you look very handsome, but until we go to a gala I think you could wear something more casual." He frowned, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to.. I don't want to mess up…" You put a hand on his shoulder, "How can you mess up? We live together, it's not like I can decide I never want to see you again after our date. Let's just have fun together today, alright?" He smiled a little trying to relax, "Alright! I have our agenda right here, if you want to take a look at it." You shook your head, looking at the long list unfurl and roll across the floor, "Let's just leave it at a surprise.."

After what seemed like an eternity, measured by you and the other five brothers consuming all of the cinnamon rolls, except for one that you saved for Karamatsu, your date emerged. He was wearing blue sparkly sequined pants, a t-shirt with a tuxedo printed on it, and the signature leather jacket, skull belt-buckle, and shades of course. You leaned over to Totty, "He does always dress like this… right?" Totty nodded, "I've tried to help him.." "~Princess~, are you ready to embark on our date?" Karamatsu asked, his cool-guy persona going strong once again. "Yes, I am." You grabbed your purse as the other five pouted and snickered at Karamatsu. He offered you his arm like a gentleman and you walked out the door together.

"Great, the first thing on the agenda is-" "Oh, wait! I saved you a cinnamon roll from this morning, I thought you might be hungry and want one since we made them together." He paused, looked at the wrapped cinnamon roll you had pulled out of your purse then back at you, "You… thought of me?" "Huh?" "You saved this for me? You noticed I wasn't here, and thought I would be hungry and want one…" He gestured up into the sky, "This is truly a blessed sign, thank you O' Universe. I will not let this wonderful blessing go unthanked." "Um, it was just a cinnamon roll… You haven't even tried it yet." You laughed softly. "It isn't right for me to eat it when you don't have any!" He exclaimed, "That would not be proper etiquette for a date." "Okay fine." You unwrapped the roll and held it out to him, "Say 'Ahh'." He froze turned red, but opened his mouth, "A-Ahh." As he bit into it you bit the other side. "There." You handed him the rest of the roll and grabbed his other arm, "Let's get this day started, it's almost noon by now!" Karamatsu had steam coming out of his ears but managed to keep up with you and eat the roll.

Karamatsu led you to a lovely area in a park, where out of nowhere he procured a blanket to sit on, a vase of roses, and a guitar. "The roses are for you, my Karamatsu Girl." "Thank you." You were impressed, and you sat down on the blanket, "By the way, what is a Karamatsu Girl?" "Heh.." He adjusted his shades, "Why, you are darling." "Okay, but what does that mean?" He paused for a moment, did you really just agree to being a Karamatsu Girl?! "W-Well, it means.. You are a girl like no other, a Karamatsu Girl is a gift sent to this Earth, and me, from the heavens above." "So, are you going to serenade this 'Karamatsu Girl' with that guitar?" You teased, it was just so easy! He adjusted his shades and nodded, beginning to play one of many songs. You both laughed and talked between taking turns singing solos and duets.

After a while you noticed the time because of your growling stomach. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you to toss the agenda because I'm getting pretty hungry." Karamatsu immediately started to apologize about being a bad date, but you shushed him, "No worries, I'm having a really good time! Let's just grab some food." You both packed up your things and headed across a bridge.

"What was on the agenda for a meal?" you asked, but you were interrupted by a stranger calling out as he walked past you, "Baby, you're the only thing on the agenda for me! Why don't you ditch sparkle-douche here and I'll show you a good time?" You curled your lip in disgust, Karamatsu was about to speak, probably to defend your honor or something, when the stranger slapped your butt as he passed you. That did it, instinct took over. You grabbed his arm with tremendous force, threw him over you and Karamatsu slamming him into the bridge. "H-Hey!" The guy choked out, you had him crushed on the ground with your heel digging into his chest, still holding onto his arm, bruises beginning to form. "Don't EVER touch me, or anyone else again, you %!#&ing scumbag." You growled, not remembering Karamatsu who was trembling next to you, "I-I think he g-gets the message…." His voice snapped you back to reality and you let the guy go, who groaned and scrambled away. You stared at Karamatsu blankly for a moment, the adrenaline making your head pound.

"Are you okay?" He tentatively reached out his hand to touch your shoulder, you looked at him for one more moment and realized what had happened, "Oh my god.. I'm so sorry!" You flushed, so much for not hurting anyone anymore.. You started to panic, feeling the stares of people around you. "It's alright.. I will take care of you.. My Karamatsu Girl." His tone sounded more sincere than normal, and he draped his jacket over your now shaking shoulders and put his arm around you, leading you away from the crowd. "Let's go home, we can finish our date another time?" You nodded, "I'm sorry for ruining our date…" You leaned into him. He chuckled, "Ruining it? Not at all, I'm sorry I didn't protect you, but ah…" He smiled at you, "Karamatsu Girls are capable of protecting themselves." You laughed at that and began to relax you had made it outside the Matsuno home, "You're right, it's not like you can get away from me since we do live together after all. Thanks Karamatsu." You reached up and pecked his cheek and went inside, still wearing his jacket, to take a nice hot bath. As soon as you had shut the door all the other brothers jumped down from the balcony in a surprise attack against Karamatsu, who had already passed out from the kiss.


	5. Chapter 5: (Do NOT) Drink with the NEET

You stared incredulously at the text on your phone, it was Rinko asking you to go out and get groceries before you came in to work tomorrow. You looked at the time, it was 8pm on a Sunday, you groaned. "Why didn't she realize we were out of this stuff sooner? I was just about to wash up and go to bed." Seeing as you started preparing for the 7am open at 6am, there was no way you could go to the store in the morning. "The store is even about to close, ugh." You grabbed your purse, threw on a baggy hoodie with a cute image of your favorite animal on it, and headed out the door.

"Ooof!" You had slammed into someone who was on his way in the door as you rushed out. "Oops, sorry about that, you goin' somewhere?" Osomatsu asked you, his hands were on your shoulders and you realized he had stopped you from falling backwards.

"Thank you, sorry I got in a hurry and wasn't paying attention." You replied sheepishly, a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it! Where are you headed so late? Pachinko?" His eyes lit up at this.

You sighed and shook your head, "No, if only it was a pleasant trip! My boss asked me to go for a last minute ingredient run before I go in tomorrow."

"Aw man, that's a bummer. Well I can go with you and keep you company! I'll even carry the grocery bags for you." Osomatsu grinned and winked. He grabbed your hand before you could decline and headed back out the door.

"By the way, where have you been all evening? Did you get a new job that I don't know about?" You asked him, you were still holding hands as he had never let go and his palms were getting sweaty.

He laughed, "No way! I was just.. ya know.. cruising around the town." You decided not to pry for his answer, and he was relieved because he had actually been "cruising" the 18+ section of a video store.

You sincerely doubt that Osomatsu has ever gone grocery shopping in his life. You sent him to go get some pastry flour, a task that you thought would be simple, while you debated on the freshness of some other ingredients, and fifteen minutes later you found him wandering around totally lost in the vegetable section. "I told you the flour was one aisle over, how did you manage to get to the opposite end of the store?" You asked him laughing. He wiped his nose smiling, "I'm not sure myself!"

After you had checked out, and Osomatsu had insisted on carrying your bags, he came up with a "great" idea. "There is no way we can go to Pachinko! It's so late and I have to get up work early Osomatsu."

"Oh come on, it'll just be for a little bit! Let loose a little, it'll be fun! And I'm sure I will have great luck with a cute girl on my arm." He winked at you. You giggled a bit and thought about it. "Please please please? I'm not above begging I'll keep going the whole way home." He begged, smiling wide.

"Oh okay! Fine!" You caved, "But only for a little bit! And I'm not playing it's a waste of money." He grinned happily and you both switched directions to go gamble a bit.

You couldn't believe it, he had actually won a pretty big sum of money. You were carrying your bags now as he clutched the money he had just won and counted it for the tenth time. "I told you! I told you I would win with you here!" He beamed ecstatically, "You're my good luck charm! You know what this means, right?"

"What?" You asked him, a little nervous about his answer.

"We are going out to celebrate with drinks!" He happily replied.

"What?! No way! It's 10pm! I have to get up super early! I can't sleep in all day and stay out all night Osomatsu!" You couldn't believe he was even asking, you had already humored him with Pachinko, even though it was kind of fun…

"Oh c'mon, just one drink! We can go see Chibita and it'll be my treat. Plus, you said that you wanted to hang out with me and get to know me right? This is a prime one-on-one Osomatsu experience."

He did make a persuasive argument, and it had been fun hanging out with him.. "….Okay. One drink!" You conceded, "Just one! I gotta get up in like 7 hours."

"Yesss!" He cheered then turned swiftly to face you and grabbed one of your bags. "It'll be so much fun, you'll see!" You sighed, you supposed you would see.

You had become quite familiar with the oden stand over these past few weeks since it was a prime dinner option for the brothers. "Two beers please!" Osomatsu chimed happily.

"Oi! You better not make your poor roommate pay for you, it's pathetic how you brothers are always mooching off of someone! Pay yer damn tab already, idjit." Chibita growled, but gave you both a beer anyways, "Nice to see you again, though." He said nodding at you.

"Oh, I got the goods Chibita." Osomatsu smirked, pulling out some cash out of his winnings and slamming it on the table. He then slammed down the fresh beer in a long gulp.

Chibita quickly grabbed the wad of cash as if it was a pile of jewels, "Did you rob somebody?!" He put the money away in case Osomatsu changed his mind.

"No way! I wouldn't do that, who do you take me for?" Oosmatsu chuckled, rubbing his nose, "Another beer please!"

"You don't want me to answer that, especially not in front of your roommate.." Chibita sighed, laughing a little as he refilled Osomatsu's beer.

"You said just one!" You cried out.

"Well, you haven't even finished yours yet! I thought it would be okay, plus it would be rude not to chat with Chibita for a bit, don't you think?" Osomatsu said slyly, sipping on his fresh beer.

"Ugh." You sighed, gulping down your beer so you could get out of here faster. "I guess you're right though, I wouldn't want to be rude."

"Ha!" Chibita laughed loudly, "Compared to these NEETs, you're an absolute angel. Don't worry about it."

Chugging that beer made you a little tipsy, especially since you hadn't eaten anything for a while. Osomatsu was on his third, and Chibita asked you if you wanted another. You were about to answer him when Osomatsu piped in.

"Oh, she won't want another because she has lots of important stuff to do in the morning." He said, slurring his words a little. His face was pink from the beer, "She doesn't want to hang out with me and let loose for once!"

"I know you're just trying to bait me Osomatsu!" You huffed, but still turned to Chibita and asked for another beer, "I'll have you know I can have a good time, I just have responsibilities too!"

"Oh please, spare me from your responsibilities!" Osomatsu laughed and asked for another beer.

"Fine Fine.." You mumbled, sloshing down your third beer. "I'll have you know I was quite the socialite in college and I managed to come out at the top of my class!"

"While that is impressive, you're still bragging about your responsibilities! Just relax a little, it won't kill you. Let some steam off from all the hard work you've been doing. That's what I do." Osomatsu finished up his beer.

"What work do you do, idjit." Chibita mumbled under his breath.

"I have been working really hard! I do deserve a break, you're right." You nodded, reaching for another beer, "I've been busting my ass almost everyday! I even got those groceries because my boss forgot to. I can have a drink and be fine."

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Osomatsu giggled, "You show 'em!"

"Oh boy.." Chibita sighed, knowing where this was going.

After a few more drinks you were both totally gone. "I am just so tired! I worked so hard to get this apprenticeship and now I can't even make any of my own recipes!" You slurred loudly, "It's so unfair! I work just as long as Queen Rinko does."

"Yeah Yeah! You should just quit." Osomatsu encouraged you, sloshing his beer as he put an arm around you.

"I wish." You huffed taking another drink, "I wish I could just start my own store. I could even hire all of you jobless NEETs. Totty could be my right hand since he already works in a cafe." You laughed loudly thinking of this disastrous idea.

"Hey, no fair! I want to be your hand." Osomatsu said jokingly, "You totally like Totty and the rest better than me."

"You're so wrong. I like all of you, even Choromatsu and Ichimatsu, I just haven't gotten to know them yet." You sighed cozying up next to Osomatsu, his hoodie smelled like beer but it was warm. "This was such a good idea, thanks Osomatsu. I feel like we've gotten so much closer already!" You giggled loudly.

"Oi, lovebirds!" Chibita chuckled, "I'm closing up the stand, it's late."

"Boo!" Both you and Osomatsu jeered in unison, "Booooo! More beer, more beer!"

"No way, you idjits have had enough! Go home already." Chibita shook his head packing up the stand.

"Wahh I don't want to go home and back to work!" You whined clinging to Osomatsu as he began to stand up. "Nooo, I don't want to go!" You actually began to cry and hiccup from the booze.

"I'm sorry, we gotta go! You're already probably going to be pissed at me tomorrow, so we gotta go home." Osomatsu was sobering up a little bit, as he had slowed down a while ago. You were much more intoxicated than he was as he had a bigger tolerance anyway.

You looked up at him with tear-filled puppy dog eyes, "But, Osomatsuuu~"

He blushed, wiping his nose and chuckling a little, "T-That's not fair!"

"Hmph. Fine." You pouted, and stood up, which was a bad idea as you toppled over.

"Hey!" Osomatsu caught you, thankfully, "Maybe you had too much.."

"Osomatsu~" You giggled, "My knight in shining armor caught me!~"

Osomatsu was beginning to turn bright red, from more than just the alcohol in his system. "Aw man.." He sighed and crouched over, "Here, I'll carry you home on my back, can you carry the bags?"

You giggled, nodded, and climbed on nuzzling into his shoulders, which only made him sweat and turn more red.

"Promise not to be too mad at me tomorrow, okay?" He laughed softly.

"Why would I be mad? I had so much fun with you, you're right I need to stop being such a stuck-up sometimes." You nodded vigorously, which made you dizzy, "Wooo…" you clung to him closer. "I still don't want to go to work tomorrow though.." You whined and sniffled a bit.

"Yeah you do, you love that stuff. And your sweets taste delicious!" Osomatsu fluffed your ego a bit.

"O-OSOMATSSUUU" You started bawling drunkenly onto his shoulder, "Y-You're so nice to me! D-Do you really m-mean it?"

He sighed smiling, "Yes, yes of course I do.. Mhmm. Yep.. " He continued to agree with you as you blathered on about sweets and your cooking.

You were getting pretty close to the house, only a few more blocks. You had relaxed a bit now and were holding onto him tightly and happily, feeling very carefree. Osomatsu had relaxed too and had gotten used to the great, but nerve-wracking, feeling of carrying a cute, but very sloshed, girl on his back.

However, his calm totally vanished as he felt you start to nuzzle against his neck, tugging down the side of his hoodie. "W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He screeched, totally unprepared.

"Nothing!~" You teased him, leaving little kisses and nuzzles on his sensitive neck. You were just showing a little attention was all, surely nothing to be embarrassed about in the morning.

For the next two blocks home you kept giggling and showering his neck with affection. Osomatsu was as red as his hoodie, and couldn't even talk as he walked anymore. It took all of his concentration to walk up to the door. "O-Okay! W-We're home…." He lowered you down, taking care so that you wouldn't fall.

"Let's party!" You cheered walking through the door and abandoning the groceries to the floor, much to the surprise of the five brothers sitting around.

Osomatsu walked in behind you pulling up his hoodie to cover his neck. "She's had enough guys.." Then he put the bags on the table, "Totty don't let her forget these in the morning."

Everyone looked in shock at this scene, Osomatsu being responsible? You out of control drunk? Why was he hiding his neck?!

Totty broke the silence, "What the hell happened?"

"Nothing, nothing Totty!" You grinned happily and plopped yourself down next to him, promptly falling over into his lap. "We just had some fun is all. My mean boss made me go out and get that stuff, and Osomatsu showed me a good time!"

All of the brothers turned to glare at Osomatsu with enough ferocity to kill. "Not _THAT_ kind of a good time.." He grunted and pulled his hoodie up again.

"Then what's that on your neck?" Totty asked him, his tone dark. You were now dozing half asleep in his lap.

"N-Nothing! I'm going to bed." Osomatsu tried to escape, but Jyushimatsu grabbed him in an octopus hold instead.

"H-H-H-Hicky!" Choromatsu pointed at Osomatsu and screamed.

The yelling and rough-housing that ensued woke you up, "Guys, Guyssss, chill out. It's not a big deal! We were just having some fun." You waved your hand nonchalantly and sat up from Totty's lap. "I don't know why it's a fuss when I have a good time, all of you are constantly goofing off and drinking! Totty is the only one with a real job besides me, at least Osomatsu is embracing his NEET status." You patted Totty's cheek looking at him with heavy-lidded eyes, "Good job at the job Totty, good job!"

"Um, thanks." Totty sighed, struggling to convince you to go to bed.

"I actually.." Ichimatsu mumbled, which was rare considering he hardly ever spoke to you, but you were too drunk to notice and Choromatsu loudly interrupted him.

"That's not entirely fair! I'm the only one out of these NEETs who actually wants to have a job!" Choromatsu grumbled.

"Oh please." You made a raspberry with your tongue, "I don't blame you though, you guys have it made." By this time Totty had managed to get you standing, "Oooh~ Totty are you going to come tuck me in?" You flirted, everyone in the room turned red.

Totty pointed to his five brothers, giving Osomatsu an especially threatening look, "All of you to bed. Now!"

"But that's not fair—" Karamatsu started.

"Shut up, Shittymatsu!" Todomatsu growled, "If I don't lock her in her room you dirty, perverted wolves would attack her.

"I brought her back in one piece didn't I.." Osomatsu muttered walking to his bedroom.

"Yeah, AND LOOK AT YOUR NECK!" Totty screeched, pushing you to your bedroom and giving his brothers a menacing look that they could not deny.

Totty had finally managed to get you into your room, even though you were whining about not wanting to go to work or sleep. "I'm sorry, I'll come wake you up in the morning to make sure you're up." Totty mumbled softly.

"Totty, you're the best!" You smiled happily as he tied your hair back for bed.

"Thanks.." He sighed, exhausted.

Of course, as soon as you were snug in your futon you were snoring and drooling.

Totty breathed a shaky sigh of relief, he had managed to get you to bed without too much of an incident and without him or any of his brothers taking advantage of you. You mumbled his name in your sleep, and he couldn't help but lean down and give you a quick peck on your forehead before leaving your room.

You woke up about thirty or so minutes later, the house was quiet but all of that alcohol was ready to make a second appearance. You had to pee. Badly. You scrambled out of bed, still pretty out of it and made your way to what you thought was the bathroom.

Instead it was one of the extra rooms in the house, it was a little dark but you could make out someone standing there. "Karamatsu?…" you called out, leaning against the door for support.

"Y-Yes! It is I, Karamatsu. What are you doing out of bed my angel, my sweet flower?" The man stumbled, trying to be quiet.

You looked at him closer, even though you were drunk you could tell something was off. You wobbled closer to him, and got right in his face. He was shaking really badly and sweating, "W-What's wrong my Karamatsu Girl?"

"Ichimatsu?" You asked, very confused. "Why are you wearing Karamatsu's clothes?"

He froze, "N-No, you're drunk, it's me Karamatsu!"

You shook your head and laughed a little too loudly, "You are _not_ Karamatsu, what are you doing Ichi—"

Ichimatsu had covered your mouth, scared you would wake everyone up, "You will _not_ tell anyone about this ever, got it? I will… kill you!" He threatened you, his voice dark and deep.

You had been threatened so many times before, you knew exactly what to do and fell into your old spiel. You bit his hand, hard enough for him to jerk back and you reached up and grabbed his collar pulling him close to your face. "Listen up you %*# ^&#$ ." You hurled several vile insults at him, "I'm in charge of this turf, and if I ever see you in MY area again, you'll wish you had never been born, got that?" Your voice was gruff and you glared at him with an aura that shocked Ichimatsu.

You suddenly remembered how badly you had to pee and ran out crashing into a side table near the bathroom before you made it to the toilet.

Ichimatsu stood there, very flustered, very sweaty, very confused, and a little turned on.

When you got out of the bathroom you had forgotten all about what had just happened. Todomatsu was waiting for you, you had woken him up, and led you back to your room.

"It's hot in here though." You whined and attempted to take off your hoodie and your shirt, not minding that he was still right there in front of you. Of course you weren't able to properly take it off in your state and it got stuck on your head, "Tottyyyy!" You whined again, curing a bright pink Totty to shakily help you take your clothes off.

He tried his best not to stare at you in your bra, he was so shocked that he had technically taken a girl's shirt off he was speechless. So instead he just ushered you into your futon, for a second time that night, and covered you up.

"Thanks Totty.." You mumbled sleepily, and passed out immediately.


	6. Chapter 6: Hangover with the NEETs

Ugh…. You groaned and groggily opened your eyes, only to shut them again immediately.

"Uggggghhhhhhhhhh…"

You rubbed your eyes, what time was it? What day is it?…

"Do I have work today?…." You mumbled trying to open your eyes and face the morning light.

Suddenly you realized you were half-naked in a bra and shorts, "W-What! What happened?!"

You clutched the blankets to your chest to cover up and quickly checked the room to make sure you were alone, which you were thank goodness. Finally, you managed to stand up and get dressed for the day.

You opened your door to find a sleeping Todomatsu in a blanket at your feet. He must have been watching over me.. How sweet. You smiled softly and stepped over him, you would wake him after you got some pain killers for your splitting headache.

You entered the kitchen and nearly ran into someone, "Oops, sorry." You mumbled, looking up to see none other than Ichimatsu.

"Here.." He muttered, you hadn't noticed before, but he was holding a glass of water and a bottle of pain-killers.

When you reached out and took them from him your hands brushed together and he flinched.

"Are you okay?.." You looked at him, very confused about this whole ordeal. "Thanks for this, I really need it, my head is killing me."

He ignored your question, "I figured it would be.."

You flushed, unable to respond, what the hell happened? You took the medicine, had he been waiting for you the whole time?

"So…" He spoke again, you were out of it, but you were still surprised by how much Ichimatsu was speaking to you. "Do you…. Remember last night?…."

"W-What?!" You shrunk backwards, "What do you mean last night?" You were bright red now.

Ichimatsu just mumbled something under his breath, turned a little red, glanced at you, and started to walk out the door. "Don't forget your ingredients…" He said as he walked out.

"Ingredients?.." You looked at the bags on the table. It was starting to come back a little, but what did Ichimatsu mean?! What happened between you two?.. Surely you didn't… You shook yourself out of your confusion, "I can worry about that later, but I have got to get going!"

You headed back to your room and paused to rouse Totty. "Todomatsu.." You murmured softly, "Totty.. It's time to wake up." You patted his hair and he started to move.

"Hm?…" He mumbled sleepily opening one eye and rubbing the other.

He looked so cute.. "Totty, it's time for us to go to work. Thank you for watching over me." You smiled and bent down to kiss his cheek.

"Good morning, princess." He smiled softly, "You had me worried last night." He rubbed his cheek, a light pink brushed his face.

"I'm not sure I want to know, but please fill me in about it on the way! Let's get dressed and head out, it's getting late."  
Totty carried your ingredient bags and began to explain everything he knew about the night, ending with how you ended up shirtless.

"I-I didn't look though, I promise!" Totty flushed.

You smiled, "It's fine, I trust you, and that's not the thing I'm most worried about." You sighed, thinking back to your morning interaction with Ichimatsu, "It makes total sense that Osomatsu would lead me on a drunken escapade, but… are you sure that Ichimatsu wasn't involved at all?"

"Ichimatsu? What do you mean? He was with us at home all night while you were gone." Totty looked at you curiously, "Why do you think he was involved?"

"Hmm.." You puzzled, "I guess it's nothing, you were outside my door all night so it's not like I could've done anymore damage."

Totty nodded, "Well, actually I wasn't out there for a few hours after you went to bed the first time. I woke up because I heard you making your way to the bathroom and running into something."

"Maybe he was in the bathroom? I guess there's more pieces to this than I thought, but thanks for filling me in Totty. I'm really sorry for acting like that to everyone, that's so embarrassing and I feel awful. I have to make it up to you all!"

Totty smiled, but he looked nervous. You were approaching your work, he insisted on walking all the way because he wanted to carry your bags, and would arrive any moment.

"Are you okay, Totty?" You asked.

"W-Well….. There's actually.. One more thing I haven't mentioned." He stumbled over his words and began to get flustered.

"Is it about Ichimatsu?"

"No… When Osomatsu got home he…" Totty paused as you had arrived.

"He…." He clenched the bags in his hands, "He had hickeys all over his neck!" He thrust the bags in your hands and ran off, bright pink.

"W-WHAAAT!" You screeched, a blush forming on your cheeks as well. How were you supposed to go to work now?! Totty was long gone, and you composed yourself so you could go inside.

While you worked it felt like every minute was an hour and time dragged on. All you could think about was last night. You couldn't believe you had given Osomatsu not just one, but multiple hickeys. You hid your face in your hands just thinking about it, getting flour on your face in the process. On top of that, you couldn't stop thinking about Ichimatsu.

What had happened last night? You tried to piece together more of your memories from what Totty had told you. You remembered needing to go to the bathroom and waking up, but what else?…

Suddenly you remembered something, you had seen Karamatsu that night right? You walked into the wrong room.. You had stopped kneading the dough you were working on, no that wasn't right. It wasn't Karamatsu, but why did you feel like it was? Who was it?! Those six same faced boys made your life difficult, but you had gotten pretty good at telling them apart.

Then it clicked. You remembered.

"Oh my GOD!" You exclaimed loudly, causing your boss to look up at you in surprise.

"Is everything alright?" Rinko asked you, "You seem out of it this morning, I'm sure having to go out so late to buy these ingredients threw a wrench in your sleep schedule. I'm sorry about that, so why don't you take an early lunch?"

You thanked her and nodded as you left to change and head out for lunch.

How could you have done that? You threatened to kill your roommate! Of course It had to be the one who hardly talks to you or even acknowledges you to begin with, great. Now poor Ichimatsu was probably scared of you, and that has to be why he was acting strange this morning. He was probably trying to be nice out of fear!

You texted Totty for advice and to see if he could meet up for lunch, but he didn't reply. You guessed he must not be off yet. Maybe this is an opportunity to explore this area a bit and see what other lunch spots you can find. Besides, you need a distraction from your utter shame and embarrassment.

You had walked a few blocks and found a really cute cat cafe. What could be a better distraction than petting cute kitties? You decided to give the place a try and walked in the door.

You were greeted by a hostess and were about to be led to a table when you noticed something out of the corner of your eye. It was Ichimatsu, clad in a uniform and… He had cat ears? Must be a part of the uniform.

He was staring at you in complete shock and was frozen in place. In a desperate panic he ran out the door.

"Wait! Ichimatsu!" you called out, quickly apologizing to the hostess and running after him.

You're looking around, trying to find him in the streets and crowds of people. Your eyes land on a cat that is running into an alleyway. You paused, and decided to follow it.

"Ichimatsu?" You called into the shadowed alley. You saw a figure crouching over in the corner, by the dumpster.

You took a few steps closer, "Ichimatsu? Please answer me if that's you…"

"….There's only trash here." Ichimatsu's voice answered you.

You breathed a sigh of relief, it was him. "You were starting to worry me, thank you for answering me. What do you mean, there's only trash?" You asked him, walking closer.

He remained crouched on the ground, his face half hidden in his crossed arms. "You shouldn't have followed me, I belong here with the trash."

"Ichimatsu…" You mumbled, was this why he never talked to you? He thought he was beneath you?

You walked over to him and crouched down to his level, he looked up at you in surprise, "You don't have to.. You'll get dirty…" He muttered.

You reached out and touched his cheek, he flinched but didn't move away. "Ichimatsu… You aren't trash, trust me. I know what real trash is like."

He was taken aback by your expression, it was stern, but somehow still soft and full of compassion. He opened his mouth to refute your claim, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He almost believed you.. Almost.

Suddenly Ichimatsu stood up, he looked to the side, but offered you his hand.

You smiled softly and took it, telling him thank you as he helped you up. He led you out of the alleyway by hand and onto the sidewalk. As you began to walk around you felt Ichimatsu's hand start to twitch.

"Are you uncomfortable? We don't have to hold hands if you don't want to." You smiled sweetly, feeling touched that he was letting you touch him since he was usually so reserved.

"….No…" Ichimatsu mumbled quietly, your question made him blush lightly. "Are you sure you want to be seen with me like this?"

He was really too sweet, even though he threatened to kill you last night, but you needed to address that still. You were pretty sure that was just a front though.

You stopped walking and moved in front of him to stop him as well. You put your hands on his shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. "I would absolutely love to spend more time with you, and I am not embarrassed at all to be seen with you in public."

He flushed, people began to pass around you on the side walk and some would give you a weird look, but you didn't mind. Ichimatsu on the other hand seemed to shrink in your arms.

You embraced him and he buried his head in your shoulder, "However, I will not tolerate any more threats or other such behavior from you, Ichimatsu. I promise I will never treat you like that again as well, okay?"

You felt him nod and his hands made their way to your back.

You smiled, "I'm really sorry about that.. I need to go back to work soon though, okay? So let's talk more later."

You walked him back to his cat cafe as it was on the way, "By the way.. I didn't know you had a job too Ichimatsu!"

He nodded, looking away, "I tried to tell you last night.. Choromatsu interrupted me.."

"I'm sorry about that, I was pretty rude to all of you about being jobless." You sighed, "I owe everyone an apology. I'll make a nice dinner tonight and apologize to everyone."

You gave him another hug, he was just as surprised as the first one, and said your goodbyes so you could make it back to work.

You were surprised when you saw a cat walk into your cafe as you were closing up for the day, but you were even more surprised to see Ichimatsu follow.

"Ichimatsu!" You smiled, "I didn't know you knew where I worked."

He shrugged, but he was eyeing your uniform.

You expected him to speak, but he just kept staring at you. You looked to the side and blushed, "I-Ichimatsu.."

He quickly looked away, "….Sorry."

You hurriedly continued to pack up the sweets out of embarrassment. "We had a lot of leftovers today." You decided to make small talk.

"Hm." Ichimatsu grunted.

It was harder than you thought.

"I think I'll bring them home for dessert.." You mumbled, packing up a box.

"Oh." you had gotten to the specialty donuts, you had one left that was decorated like a cat.

"Hey, Ichimatsu." You walked over to him, "I feel like you would like it, do you want this one?" You offered him the donut now in a napkin. "I don't want one of your brothers to eat it before you get to it.

His eyes widened and a blush tinted his cheeks, "..'S cute…." He looked at you and very slightly smiled, "Thank you."

You beamed, you were so happy to be making process with the quietest neet. "You're welcome! Let me wrap up really quick."

"Um.." He started, he looked down, "Could you.. take a picture of it before I eat it?.. I don't have a phone.."

You smiled brighter, "Of course!" You snapped a picture of the donut, and then looked up at him, "Do you want to take a selfie with it?"

He flushed, "S-Sure.."

Both of you leaned in for a pic, he held the donut between you and you winked while making a cat paw.

"It's so cute! I know most people just like taking pictures of their food, but I like to take pictures with my food and of people enjoying my food." You saved the pictures and went back to cleaning up.

He nibbled on the donut, cherishing every bite.

By the time you changed out of your uniform and got your things Ichimatsu had finished his donut.

Both of you left the store and headed home, and subsequently to Totty's Sutabaa.

Totty was waiting outside for you as usual, he hadn't actually been able to stop by your work yet and didn't quite know where it was so you picked him up every day to walk home.

"What are you doing here, Ichimatsu?" Totty said, with a cheerful tone but you could tell he wasn't happy.

"I came to walk her home." Ichimatsu said blankly, like it was an everyday routine.

"I'm the one who walks with her everyday!" Totty crossed his arms.

Ichimatsu grinned, "Not today."

You could feel the tension rising between the brothers, "You guys! No reason to fight, can't we all walk together?"

Totty snapped back to his usual demeanor, "You're right!~" He clung to your arm and began walking you away from Ichimatsu.

You looked back at Ichimatsu with a worried expression, he was only a step or two behind you and had his usual frown.

"You won't believe what happened at work today, I'm so sorry I couldn't meet with you for lunch today, like we do every day." Todomatsu grinned and glanced back at Ichimatsu.

Ichimatsu grumbled and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He watched you and Totty talk for a few minutes about work and pulled out a shaky hand. He looked at your free hand and started to nervously sweat, trying to work up his nerve. He quickened his pace to catch up to the both of you, and took your hand with his.

You turned to look at him and smiled happily, and he immediately turned away in embarrassment, hiding his own smile.


	7. Chapter 7: Dinner with the NEETs

You hadn't really noticed, but you were so happy living with the Matsuno brothers. Sure, they were loud and obnoxious, they were always fighting, but you found it endearing. You woke up every morning with a smile on your face, ready to face the day and walk to work with Totty. Well, now that Ichimatsu had a job near you both maybe he would be joining you too. You loved showing the brothers new things, most of which involved the kitchen. Choromatsu especially was interested in learning to cook. Most of all, watching them enjoy your food was the absolute best.

Which was exactly what was happening now!

You had just served an appetizer to start off the extravagant apology dinner that you were working on.

"This is so good! I can hardly believe it." Osomatsu grinned messily eating. His massive collection of hickies was half-way covered up with a bandage.

"T-Thank you.." You blushed slightly, you should still probably talk to Osomatsu about that privately later.

"I just wanted to do something special for you guys, to apologize for being rude and kinda…" You glanced at Osomatsu and Ichimatsu, "Out of control… Last night. I also just think it's nice for all of us to hang out together too."

"Aww, you don't have to worry about it!~" Totty smiled at you taking a bite.

"Yeah, you take such good care of us, and your food even rivals ~mommy's~" Karamatsu put a hand to his chin, his colored contacts gleaming.

"Well, I definitely don't want to be your mom…" You chortled.

"That's obvious by Osomatsu's neck…" Ichimatsu muttered.

"PFFFFTTTT!" Osomatsu spat out his drink.

Even though Ichimatsu was the one who said it, he was bright red along with everyone else in the room.

"Alllllrighty then…" You attempted to change the direction of the conversation, "Who's ready for the main course?"

"MEEEE!" Jyushimatsu flapped his arm around wildly.

You took that cue as a blessing and rushed to the kitchen to finish up the main course.

When you were cooking you were completely in your element. You didn't have to worry about any negativity, worry, or embarrassing mishaps. You let out a relaxed sigh, you were really living a dream. You had come a long way since… High school.

You let out a chuckle, those were some wild times, but you had to put that behind you to go to culinary school in the U.S., which was for the best. Sometimes you missed it though, you missed your best friend. They were always there for you, and now you didn't even know where they were. You also missed your rival, even though they made your life hell.

You started to laugh louder, why were you thinking about all this now?

Maybe it's because this is the only time since you were really little that you've felt so peaceful. High school was wild, culinary school was all business, but now everything seemed to be falling into place. These past two months have been amazing, you were totally conquering your apprenticeship and you even managed to meet some cute guys.

"Wait, what?!" You stopped cooking for a moment, cute guys?! You peered in the living room, all of them were eating messily and Karamatsu was getting pushed by Ichimatsu. You shook your head, smiling, and turned back to the food to carry it out, what had you gotten yourself into?

Suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder, "Hmm?" You turned to see Osomatsu.

"Do you uh, need any help?" He rubbed his nose smiling.

"Oh, yeah sure, the main plate is pretty heavy, hehe.." You laughed nervously, "Let me just finish up.."

You stood in silence for a bit, until it was too much, "Look.. Osomatsu, I had a lot of fun last night—"

"Oh?" Osomatsu grinned, "You're ready for round two of all this?" He gestured to himself and winked.

You busted out laughing and shoved him lightly, "Osomatsu!"

"Heh." He chuckled, "Anytime you're game, I'm game… But maybe not binge drinking a day before an early morning for you next time."

"Sounds good to me.. and next time, I'll try not to go so crazy.." You glanced at his neck.

He blushed a bit, "I-I didn't.. Totally mind."

"O-Oh…." You paused, handing him a plate and heading out with your own "Well, we should, um, take the food out to your brothers!"

"..Yeah.." Osomatsu mumbled, a little dejected by your response.

"Dinner is served!" You laid out the food for your roommates, "Thank you guys for your hospitality, and I hope this suffices as an apology."

They all immediately dug in, drooling at how delicious it tasted, then they started to cry.

"This is just so incredible, you are truly an angel." Karamatsu sobbed.

"I wish I could eat your cooking forever." Choromatsu shyly glanced up at you between bites.

"Aw you guys, you are the best. This makes me so happy." You smiled wide, sitting down between Jyushimatsu and Karamatsu.

Jyushimatsu leaned over and gave you a big kiss on the cheek, "You taste good too!" he beamed.

You giggled, "Thanks, Jyushibee."

The atmosphere shifted a bit.

"So, uh." Osomatsu spoke up, "We have kinda been a little confused.."

"Confused?" You asked.

"Well, it's just that, um, you've been spending some time with each of us—" Totty started.

"Almost each of us.." Choromatsu grumbled very, very quietly.

"Anyways." Totty ignored his brother, "Like, do you want to date us? Or one of us? Or…" His face darkened, "None of us?"

Jyushimatsu touched your arm, still smiling "Do you like us?"

You flushed completely, was this some sort of intervention?!

You really didn't know what to say, all of them were staring at you intently, aside from Karamatsu who was looking away with his shades on pretending he wasn't about to cry.

"G-Guys! This is a kinda serious.. gloomy conversation, why are you all so upset? I thought.. I was just having fun with you all, getting to know you." You sweated a bit, "I'm not trying to confuse you, or lead you on or anything. I'm sorry, I guess I didn't really think any of this through.."

All of them continued to stare at you intently, so you continued, "I do like you! You all make me so happy, I'm really happy to live with you.. I guess I just, haven't really thought about the 'dates' turning into.. exclusive dating?"

You could sense the complete and total air of despair that overtook the room, "W-Wait, let me finish!" You sighed, a bit frazzled, "It's just that I'm not.. I haven't really…" You took a deep breath, trying to get the words out, but failing.

Karamatsu turned to face you for the first time, "We live together remember? It's not like you can mess up." He smiled softly, touching your shoulder for encouragement, "We won't hate you, no matter what."

You smiled, feeling relieved, "Thank you.. Ok, so.. Have any of you.. heard of polyamory?.."

They stared at you blankly, except for Jyushimatsu, "That means lots of love!"

You nodded, "Yeah! So, I'm polyamorous, which means a relationship with more than just two people. It can get kind of complicated, there's different types of formations and such, but its all about being open and honest with your partners. Setting boundaries and rules, being safe.. It can be more work than just dating one person, but yeah, I think it would be worth it.."

The blank stares turned to confusion, Ichimatsu piped up, "Does everyone involved date?.."

You shook your head, "That's where the formations come in, like in a Vee one person is in a relationship with two people, but those two people aren't in a relationship with each other. Of course, it can get to more than just three, but for simplicity's sake.."

"T-That's.." Choromatsu muttered, "I just don't understand it, I thought relationships were only between two people!"

"Y-Yeah, well I mean, I haven't been in a relationship since high school, but I discovered I was poly back then. It's not super common, and a lot of people are either uncomfortable with it or have never heard of it.. On top of that, I've never.. dated siblings before though.. Maybe that would be too weird?"

Everyone just sat in silence for a bit, thinking things over.

You spoke up again, "I'm not.. I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable. I think maybe we should all just let things keep going naturally, see what happens? And then.. if something does end up happening, we can talk about it with whoever is involved and make sure everyone is okay and comfortable."

Everyone nodded, and Jyushimatsu clung to your arm happily.

Osomatsu was about to speak when there was a bang on the door.

"Hey! You lousy NEETs! I'm back from my tour, are you home?" A voice rang out, a very familiar voice.

"Who is that?.." You asked, that couldn't be…

Choromatsu jumped up in a hurry, "I-I'll get it!"

Everyone was kind of out of it from that heavy conversation, and from being so full of delicious food. Still, the brothers managed to brighten up in surprise, worry, and delight.

Choromatsu walked back in the room with a girl in brown pigtails and her hair up in a bump-it.

She didn't notice you at first, jumping into an excited flurry about how her tour had gone, but then your eyes met.

It was her.

You stood up.

She immediately stopped talking, both of your eyes locked in intensity.

The NEETs were even more confused, feeling the tension spark off of the two of you.

"I knew you would show up around here eventually. You look so different though, I hardly recognize you, your hair is the total opposite now. You clean up nice." She grinned, "I've been waiting, you're so rude to make a girl wait."

"Please, I knew you would never get out of this town." You chuckled.

You continued your stare down as the brothers just stared.

Both of you started to walk towards each other, and rammed your heads together.

"W-What!" Choromatsu shrieked.

You continued to lock eyes, foreheads touching. Then you broke apart and laughed loudly, "You're such a softie, Totoko, I can't believe you're bleeding from a little love tap like that."

Totoko wiped the one trickle of blood off her brow, "Aw, it doesn't hurt, I didn't even notice it. I'm sure this is nothin' compared to that time I broke your fingers, so you couldn't tell me to fuck off anymore."

Choromatsu was already running to get a first-aid kit while everyone one else looked as if they had seen a ghost, save for Ichimatsu who was bright red and sweaty.

"HA!" You laughed, "Even with broken fingers I still kicked those Yakuza punks' asses to save yours when you pissed them off. I had to carry your useless ass back home and dump you off."

"I heard you were a fancy pants pastry chef from some of your old running buddies, but I never thought I would see you in this house." Totoko scoffed, "I'm sure you've heard all about my career as an idol, but I'm super famous and very talented. Maybe if you beg I'll even autograph something for you, like your arm, and then you can get a tattoo of it!"

"PFFT." You laughed in her face, "I would rather die, thanks. I'm surprised you're able you sing with all the ribs you've broken, well I guess I technically broke them."

You both sighed contently, and then hugged.

Choromatsu returned with the first aid kid, but Totoko pushed him away.

"What.. Is going on here?" Osomatsu asked.

"Ah." You had forgotten that they were even there, you were so caught up in the surprise.

"Totoko and I… well… back in high school.." You sighed, you guessed they would have found out eventually anyway.

"This punk was the leader of a sukeban from the other side of town." Totoko sneered, "We were highschool rivals."

"R-Rivals?! Does that mean you were in a gang too Totoko?" Choromatsu asked, his face pale.

You slung an arm around your old frenemy, "When I knew Totoko, she was known as Princess Tunako. She carried around a huge frozen tuna and raised some hell. We, uh, we faced off from time to time. Standard stuff, turf wars, you know.."

Choromatsu just gaped at the two of you. Ichimatsu was drooling a bit and was still bright red. The others were trying to wrap their mind around what was going on.

"Ah.. That clears a few things up. No wonder my Karamatsu Girl was so strong." Karamatsu put his hand to his chin, "You have such a strong spirit, my angel. And Totoko.."

"This isn't really that surprising, Totoko has always been super strong." Osomatsu finished his brother's thought.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Jyushimatsu pulled a baseball bat out of no where and swung it a few times, "Now it all makes sense! Your hustle hustle, muscle muscle!"

Ichimatsu just quietly nodded while pulling his knees up to his chest.

"Yeaah, well, it's kind of a long story." You chuckled nervously, "Sorry I didn't tell you guys, especially since we're roommates—"

"You're what?!" Totoko interrupted pulling away from you.

"Oh, yeah that's kinda a funny story too." You laughed again.

Choromatsu jumped in to catch Totoko up to speed, explaining that their parents left on a romantic journey to find themselves and the initial misunderstanding to the housing post online.

"And that's what led us here." He finished, "M-Maybe you would like to move in as well Totoko?"

"Not a chance in hell. But really, you could do much better than these virgin NEETs." Totoko turned to you crossing her arms.

"H-Hey! Totoko, don't play around like that, haha… ha…" Todomatsu jumped in, trying to conceal their virgin status.

"Oh please, as if it wasn't totally obvious just by looking at the six of you." Totoko rolled her eyes.

You just ignored that tid-bit for now, "Anyways, I just don't advertise that information due to establishing myself as a professional pastry chef! I wasn't.. really consciously trying to hide it from you all, so I'm sorry about that."

"Tell us, how did you end up joining.. or creating a sukeban?.. P-Please.." Ichimatsu spoke up.

"Oh. Well—" You started, but Totoko interrupted again.

"This girl was a real legend back in the day, everyone really looked up to her and respected her. She created her group out of sheer willpower, or so I've heard." Totoko said with stars in her eyes.

"Wow Totoko, tell me how you really feel." You winked at her and she blushed.

"Well, if you all really want to know, I don't mind sharing." You continued, and took a seat, this time next to Ichimatsu, who was still awfully worked up. Totoko sat next to you.

"So, I think I mentioned this before, I was born in Japan, but I moved to the states with my parents when I was in elementary school. We moved back here when I was in my final year of junior high school, and I didn't.. really mesh with the kids at my school." You rubbed your arm, "I guess there was a culture clash of sorts, I had been out of Japan for so long and was used to American schooling. The kids at school.. They didn't really want anything to do to me."

Ichimatsu patted your arm.

You smiled at him in thanks and continued, "So, after trying just about anything to fit in at school for a year or two, I decided I wanted to stand out even more instead during high school. I had a lot of anger, and a need for attention since I was always ignored, so that turned into me acting out in school.. Which turned into getting into fights and getting bullied more. Which then led me to learn how to really take care of myself, and to teach others how to do the same. Before I knew it I had created a girl gang, heheh.. No one ever bothered me or my girls again because they knew they would regret it."

You let out a pent up breath, it felt nice to vent to your friends. "So then I got into that scene, and that's where I met Totoko here." You nudged her arm, "We ended up throwing down and our groups didn't get along well, but when it came down to it we looked out for each other."

You turned to the brothers, to your surprise Karamatsu was sobbing.

"What a beautiful story, so much emotion, so much ~soul~." Karamatsu wiped his eyes, reaching out to take your hands, "You are truly strong, inside and out, my princess."

"Thank you." You breathed, you had never really opened up like this to anyone who wasn't in your gang in high school. "Anyways, my parents did not like my new lifestyle, so they yanked me out of high school during my senior year abruptly. I didn't have time to tell anyone by hardly, and they made me leave all of my gang stuff during the move. I was super pissed about it, but then.. Back in the states I discovered my true passion, baking!"

Karamatsu smiled softly at you, and when you looked around everyone else was offering their encouragement as well.

Totoko grabbed you and gave you a rough noogie, "Enough of the sappy stuff, I have something for you, that I think you've been missing. Let's go over to my place real quick."

When you all arrived at Totoko's place she took you to the storage room for her family's fish shop. It absolutely reeked.

"After all this time are you still trying to kill me, Totoko? I'm going to keel over from the smell alone!" You teased her, pinching your nose.

"Oh shut it you big baby." Totoko grinned, "It doesn't even smell."

She walked up to a lump in the corner covered by a tarp, "Are you ready for this?" She asked slyly, gripping the tarp in her hands and dramatically pulling them off.

"Oh my god." You murmured.

"Motorcycle!" Jyushimatsu whooped, "So cool!"

It was your motorcycle, the only person you could rely on for a while, before you started your sukeban, your best friend.

You walked over in shock, running your hands down it, "You've been taking care of it for me?.. I thought she was lost forever."

Totoko grinned widely, "After you left I caught wind about what had happened, so I tracked down your bike, which was a huge pain in my ass, and here we are!"

You turned to Totoko and gave her a long, hard hug. "Thank you so much, Princess."

Totoko blushed lightly, "No one calls me that anymore!.. But.. I guess you can if you want."

Karamatsu was completely enamored by your ride. He kept looking at it and striking poses next to it.

You giggled, "I'm a little rusty, but I can take you for a ride sometimes Karamatsu, or even teach you how to drive it if you want!"

"If you wreck this piece of history, I will destroy you." Totoko turned to Karamatsu and threatened him.

"I'm sure Karamatsu will be a natural!" You laughed loudly.

"I want to go for a ride on the back with you!~" Totty smiled, tugging on your arm, "You're soo cool!~"

"Aw, shucks guys." You rustled your hair in embarrassment.

"If you want to keep her stored here, it's alright with me." Totoko grinned.

You nodded, "Thanks so much! For everything." You turned to the brothers, "And you guys too, thanks for listening.. and accepting me."

They all smiled widely, "Of course! Now I have a great idea." Osomatsu winked.

"Oh boy, here we go." You rolled your eyes jokingly.

"Let's have a mahjong tournament to celebrate this beautiful reunion between a woman and her bike and Totoko's successful tour!" Osomatsu cheered.

"Oh, that does sound like fun." Choromatsu smiled, "I could unwind a little tonight."

Totoko glanced at you, "Their mahjong games get pretty intense, but I'm confident I can beat you."

"You're on." You smiled, and you all headed back to the Matsuno household for what would be a very rambunctious Mahjong tournament.

Totoko and Ichimatsu could not play at the same time, both of them got too worked up and would end up throwing the board and the table.

Totty quit after the first round he played because he caved under the pressure, he much preferred to 'partner' with you, which meant sitting next to you and being a cheerleader of sorts.

You had thought that Choromatsu would be the biggest competition, but it turned out he had a fatal flaw: a horrible pokerface.

That just left Jyushimatsu and Osomatsu, who ended up being your biggest competition.

The night went on longer than you thought, and you noticed that Totty had nestled in your lap and falled asleep. You were playing round after round because you were in the lead.

Totoko had been knocked out and had stalked home in anger to go to bed, but not before totally trashing the living room.

Since Ichimatsu had also lost, he came over to sit on the other side of you, and surprisingly leaned his head against your shoulder.

As the game waned on, Ichimatsu and Totty were sleeping soundly, making it difficult for you to move to play.

"Psst, Karamatsu." you called him, he had been sitting out, "Do you want to sit in for me? I don't want to disturb your brothers." You looked at them, they looked so sweet and peaceful.

Karamatsu smiled and nodded, "You are so selfless, my Karamatsu lover."

There wasn't much room between you and the board, and since you didn't want to rouse Ichimatsu and Totty, the other brothers had to move the board forward a bit so Karamatsu could sit down.

You yawned sleepily, trying to keep your eyes open to see who the winner would be, but it was becoming very difficult. You had a busy day after all.

You started to tip over in your sleep, but Karamatsu, who has already busted, steadied you.

"Thank you.." You mumbled, half-asleep.

Your tipping motion woke Ichimatsu, who just laid back on the floor beside you. That seemed like a good idea so you leaned back as well, Totty cuddling your waist still.

Soon all three of you were asleep and Karamatsu was fetching a blanket.

Of course, when the game finally ended the eldest three brothers didn't want to leave you with Ichimatsu and Totty on your own, so they pulled the futon in the living room and joined the sleepover.

Even though you were asleep, the warm sense of peace and comfort the brothers brought made its way into your sweet dreams.

-A/N-

This chapter was jam-packed with more character and plot development, and your secret finally got revealed! I hope you guys liked it, i really like the Totoko/reader dynamic and I thought making the reader from a girl gang past (which was heavily inspired by both Fruits Basket, real sukeban/yankii culture, and of course the yankii episode of Osomatsu-san. For readers who are familiar with Japanese culture or who are Japanese please let me know if I got any details about that wrong, or if it was offensive in any way! Also as a reminder, I have more drawings inspired by the fic uploaded on my deviantart:

Choromatsu will be next, I thought it would be interesting to have his chapter after the big reveal of both polyamorous reader and her past, just because he's such a straight-laced (or so-called) guy.


	8. Chapter 8: Nyaa with the NEET

It had been a few weeks since your touching reunion with Totoko and the now infamous mahjong throw-down of the century. Things at your work had been progressing well, and you had become a lot more comfortable and open with the brothers since you had cleared the air. You were feeling on top of the world.

Choromatsu, on the other hand, was not.

Choromatsu had been working his brain non-stop trying to rationalize the meaning of his feelings for you, and the morality of your, and potentially his and his brother's, behavior. He had never heard of polyamory before, the closest he had come to were harems and love triangles, and he promptly dug into research about the subject.

He discovered the difference between polyamory, being in a consensual relationship with multiple people, and polygamy, a marriage traditionally between one man and multiple wives. This discovery calmed some of his negative feelings on the issue, as he was assured that a poly relationship would be based on communication, trust, and equality. However, he still couldn't shake his moral compass, which was telling him that a relationship is ONLY to be between one man and one woman! How on earth was he expected to date someone who his brother's were also dating?

Well, he had figured that up until that point, all of them had been developing feelings for you regardless, much like their situation with Totoko, and some had even gone on explicit dates with you. He sighed, this just felt different somehow than their hopes and feelings for Totoko. Sure, they had all wanted to date her, perhaps at the same time, and they had asked her on group dates before with Totoko being the only girl. Maybe he was just being thrown off by the label?!

On top of that, he also felt rejected by you. You had spent time with all five of his brothers, and had completely ignored him, at least in his eyes. Maybe he didn't even want to be in any sort of relationship with you, polyamorous or otherwise!

He huffed.

He knew he was kidding himself, he wanted to know more about you. He wanted you to read his resume and help him become a better man. He wanted to finally get a job and be able to provide… for you!

He sunk his head into his arms on the table, why did everything have to be so complicated?

When he had tried to approach his brothers about his feelings, he was either laughed at or completely ignored. It seemed like everyone wanted to process things on their own, or at least they were not interested in hearing him out.

Karamatsu was the only one who would sit and listen to him.

"I hear you, my ~brother~. All of us are having these same thoughts as you, we are truly combined in spirit." Karamatsu attempted to assuage about his worries.

"Are you really okay with all of this?" Choromatsu sighed.

Karamatsu looked at him, his eyes gleaming with confidence, "I have.. absolutely.." He paused for effect, "No idea!"

Choromatsu grimaced, "You are truly painful and idiotic, Shittymatsu."

"She told us we could think about it and talk to her if needed, which I have done." Karamatsu looked over at his brother, "Why don't you try that?"

"Psh! Like I could just waltz up to her and talk! You're being completely ridiculous." Choromatsu had gotten up to leave the room.

"I think we should do as she suggested, which is just let things ~flow~." Karamatsu called after his brother, who was now walking out the door.

You were having a fine day at work, it had been relatively slow, which was great because when the patisserie was slow you were able to practice making sweets. Today, things were so slow that Rinko was able to work with you and give you pointers, you had practically mastered tiramasu! You were really over the moon. It felt like everything was falling into place.

Then suddenly, you felt the ground shake.

What was that? An earthquake?

You steadied yourself on the counter, glancing over to Rinko, who looked equally shocked.

You heard a faint noise outside.

"What is that?"

The noise grew louder, and you heard shrill screams and squeals.

"Maybe this really is an earthquake, the safest place is the walk in cabinet! Follow me, quick!" Rinko gestured to you and turned to head into the back room.

Just at that moment, the screams were right at your door and a pink-haired girl with cat ears came into the building in a flash as four huge bodyguards blocked the doorway.

Both you and Rinko stopped dead in your tracks in pure shock.

"N-Nyaa-Chan?.." You spoke, why was a celebrity in the patisserie? Was there really no earthquake?!

You tried to compose yourself, your heart rate was way up.

Choromatsu was also trying to compose himself, he had somehow ended up in Totoko's bedroom.

Alone.

It wasn't completely unheard of for Choromatsu and Totoko to spend one on one time together, since he was her unofficial manager for her career as an idol, but that did not stop Choromatsu from being nervous.

"Look Choromatsu, you just need to relax, as always you're getting wrapped up in your own thoughts again." Totoko sighed, patting her friend a little too hard on the shoulder.

"I'm honestly surprised you came to me for advice on this, but I guess that's to be expected, I am basically the only other girl you know." Totoko shrugged, "Who knew I would be helping you with your love life one day? I guess I am one to go to about these things, as I am an expert on the subject. I have people lining up to get a date with me, especially since I became an idol." Totoko was fluffing her own ego, and reality a bit, but Choromatsu wouldn't know the difference.

"T-Thanks for helping me." Choromatsu mumbled, a light blush dusting his cheeks, "We both know my good-for-nothing brothers are no help with this kind of thing."

Totoko nodded, "Oh yes, you can't be asking a bunch of damn virgin NEETs for romance advice, you made a good choice in coming to see me, Chorofappyski."

"P-PLEASE DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Choromatsu screeched, "I don't think she has heard about that yet, so please don't say that in front of her.."

Totoko laughed, "I doubt she would care, but sure I won't."

Choromatsu nodded in thanks and sighed, clutching his fists tightly, "I just… I just don't know what to do."

Totoko looked over at him, a thoughtful expression painted her face, "It's obvious that you like her, why don't you just go for—"

"There's no way I could just— What if she turned me down?! Why doesn't she like me? She's spending time with everyone but me, it's not fair Totoko!" Choromatsu clutched his head, "Maybe I should just stick to idols."

"Well, you should try and be more confident, you'll never know unless you try. Also, I'm sure that she does like you, at least enough to not want to punch you through the roof, which is something." Totoko laughed, reflecting on some memories, "Good times.." She mumbled, now it was her turn to blush a bit.

"That's another thing!" Choromatsu groaned, sinking onto the table, "S-She's! She was— Well, n-no offense Totoko, b-but—"

Totoko held out a hand to stop Choromatsu, "Look, I know you're mister goody-goody, supposedly at least, but we.. Well, she wasn't just violent for no reason. She told you herself why she ended up creating her gang!"

Now it was Totoko's turn to sink on the table, she lazily propped her head up with her hand, gazing into the distance. "She just.. She was so incredible, honorable. She never ever started a conflict, unless she was protecting someone. She would never hurt someone who was innocent. Hell, she even looked out for me and we were in rival gangs, if that doesn't show what a good heart she has, I don't know what does."

Totoko laughed, reminiscing, "She didn't even hurt anyone who didn't deserve it or unnecessarily hurt people, like the other gangs in our area did. Well, she did beat on me a lot, but I'm the one who initially picked a fight with her. Plus.."

She paused, her ears burning a bit, "That's just kinda how we were, we had a special relationship, that's how we showed our affection. So yeah, anyways what I'm saying is you sure as hell shouldn't judge her. You've been my friend for years, and I'm basically as 'bad' as she is."

Totoko could almost see the gears turning in Choromatsu's head as he mulled over this information.

Finally he spoke, "Well.. Even if she was some kind of heroine from a manga protecting people, that doesn't excuse the.. t-the.." Choromatsu flushed bright red, "Y-You know what I mean.."

Totoko scoffed, "Pfft. All six of you begged me to date you collectively multiple times, how is this any different than that?"

Choromatsu paused, flushing further, "T-That's totally different!…"

He paused as Totoko just crossed her arms, waiting for him to realize it wasn't different at all.

"W-Well.. Even if I'm okay with all of that, she still doesn't l-like me.." He grumbled, a little embarrassed at Totoko's straight-forward advice.

Totoko rolled her eyes and massaged her temples, trying to keep her cool, "Okay, what are you basing that on?"

"Everyone else has gone on a date with her or have spent more time with her than I have." Choromatsu felt confident he was right this time, and would not be talked out of his conclusion.  
"Didn't everyone else approach her first or randomly run into her?" Totoko smirked, she knew she was going to win.

Choromatsu's mouth hung open slightly, but he immediately composed himself and racked his mind for something that went against Totoko's claim, but found nothing.

"T-That can't be right!" Choromatsu ruffled his hair again trying to think.

"Look, she's a busy lady Chorofap— I mean, Choromatsu. Unlike you lot, she actually has a career she's working towards and because of that she's busier than you are! It makes more sense that you NEETs should be the one to approach her, aside from the fact that she is way, and I mean WAY, out of any of your leagues." Totoko huffed slightly as she spoke, clearly aggravated.

Choromatsu sensed that his welcome was ending, but was still confused. "What should I do then?"

"God DAMN, you are so dense! Go talk to her you idiot." Totoko reached to get a pen and paper, upon which she hastily scribbled something on.

She yanked you up out of your seat, thrust the note into your chest, and shoved you out of her door. "Get the hell out of here, that's the name of her work, it's near Totty's cafe."

You opened your mouth to say something else, but she slammed the door in your face.

You shouted your thanks and decided you might as well go see the patisserie, since Totoko went to the trouble..

You were able to compose yourself, but the desperate screams from the door were a little distracting.

"I am so so so incredibly sorry, nyaa!" Nyaa-chan looked over at you two for the first time, closing her eyes in a stressed smile. "I was doing a surpurrise show a few blocks from here, and my fans formed a horde and wouldn't let me escape!"

"Wow, that's awful." You looked out into the crowd outside of the doors, who were being held back by Nyaa-chan's bodyguards, they were mostly men. You wanted to be surprised, but after the Choromatsu incident online you had done some research and found that Nyaa-chan had a wide male fan base.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that miss, but unfortunately you can't bar the door to my business. Not only is it a fire hazard, but these are potential paying customers." Rinko smiled awkwardly, she felt bad for the girl, but she was running a business.

"Oh of course! I totally understand, I wouldn't want to inconvenience mew, nyaa." Nyaa-chan opened her eyes and actually looked at the two of you for the first time. She bowed slightly to Rinko, but when she turned to you she paused.

A brief look of surprise was painted on her face, but it quickly vanished back into her cutesy idol smile.

"If I may, I would love to purrchase a few things befur I make my exit, nyaa!" Nyaa-chan glanced at the Tiramisu you had just made, "Did mew make those?" She pointed at the tiramisu and looked over at you.

"Yes, um, meow'am?" You attempted to make a cat pun of your own.

Nyaa-chan couldn't help herself but burst into a light, bubbly laughter, "Oh my! That was ameowzing! I would love to take one of those and a tea to go please."

You nodded, flashing a grin, and packed up her order.

Nyaa-chan turned to Rinko, "Do you have a side exit I could sneak out of?"

Rinko escorted one of Nyaa-chan's bodyguards to check out the back exit and plan a route of escape.

This left Nyaa-chan and you almost alone for a minute, as she had several other bodyguards still barring the door.

"Here's your order! I hope you enjoy it, and have a successful escape." You chuckled handing her the boxed up order.

She smiled widely, her pointed cat teeth gleamed for a moment, you had to wonder how far her cat-theme actually went. "Thank you very much!"

You thought you saw her giving you a strange look again, and you were about to ask her about it, but then you suddenly remembered, Choromatsu would be freaking out right now!

"Sorry to ask, but could I have an autograph, please?" You reached behind the counter to get a notepad and a pen.

"Of course, nyaa!" Nyaa-chan's demeanor returned once again to complete professionalism, "Who should I make it out to?"

"Please make it out to 'Choromatsu'." You smiled, he was going to be so excited!

Nyaa-chan frowned, "That's not your name though, is it?"

"No, this is for my friend, he's a really big fan of yours!" You answered and introduced yourself.

"Oh, okay, well that's sweet of you to get an autograph for him. Do you want to take a picture together too?" Nyaa-chan asked, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Sure!" You pulled out your phone and left the counter to pose next to her.

"Let's do my signature pose, nyaa?" She asked, demonstrating a wink, cat smile, and her paw next to her cheek.

"I think I can handle that." You joked, "Ready? One, Two…"

You both posed and snapped a photo, by this time the fans outside were freaking out because they wanted to be inside with Nyaa-chan like you.

"This looks great, thank you Nyaa-chan!" You smiled, by this time her guards had returned and had a car ready at the back entrance.

Nyaa-chan pawsed, giving you a quick hug, the fans rammed against the door at this, but it held.

You were a little taken aback, but you thought she was probably grateful you were helping her get out of this mess.

"I'm sure we will meet again, thank you both so much!" Nyaa-chan smiled at you and Rinko, but she only hugged you.

"Good luck!" You called after her, it was up to you and Rinko to hold the door while they dashed to the back.

After the cost was clear and the doors were re-opened, about half of the mob ended up staying, and they all wanted to order exactly what Nyaa-chan had. You were questioned and scrutinized by nearly all of the customers. So much for the slow, peaceful day.

As Choromatsu was making his way towards your work, he paused at a crossing for a black car pulling out of a side-street. He watched it drive by, and noticed a certain pink-haired cat-idol in the back seat.

He only saw her for a moment, but that was enough to throw him into a jittery frenzy, "N-N-N-N-NYAA-CHAN?!" He yelled, the car long gone by now.

Choromatsu just stood frozen in place, like a statue, trying to imagine what Nyaa-chan was doing so nearby to his neighborhood and to the shopping center where two of his brothers and you worked. He became so overwhelmed in his thoughts that he totally forgot about going to see you at work, he couldn't even move and the other pedestrians walked around him.

Back at your work, all the Nyaa-fans had overwhelmed the patisserie. They wanted more tiramisu and tea, and you had almost ran out of ingredients! Rinko had to call in your co-workers who had been sent home because it had been so slow to help out with the mob of fans.

You were sent on an emergency ingredient run as the apprentice, you were hurrying to the store when you noticed a strange new art installment on the sidewalk.

"Who would put a life-size statue in the middle of the side-walk?" You muttered running closer to the statue that was blocking the path, then you realized that it was not a statue, it was a person.

"Choromatsu? Is that you? Are you okay?" You stopped jogging to check on him.

Your voice shook him out of his daze, "W-What?"

"Are you okay? What are you doing standing like that in the middle of the side-walk?" You glanced down at your watch, "Can we walk and talk?"

He didn't answer you, and was still coming out of his overthinking daze, so you just grabbed his hand and gently tugged him in the direction of the store.

"Sorry to be in such a rush, we are having a big situation at my work. Are you sure you're okay?" you looked at him with concern.

He finally came to, "I'm fine! I just s-saw N-N-Nyaa-chan!" He forced the words out, looking around again even though he knew she was long gone. Then he noticed you were holding hands and turned bright red.

"You did? Were you part of that crazy mob?" You gave him another look, this one a little more apprehensive.

"What crazy mob?" He asked.

You sighed, relieved, and explained what had happened.

"Y-Y-You!" Choromatsu fell back into his frozen stupor, letting go of your hand in the process.

"Choromatsu!" You stopped to try and shake him out of it, "It wasn't a super big deal, she just needed help and happened to run in, it was total chance."

"Y-Y-You.. You m-met…" You feared Choromatsu was going to faint, so you steadied him.

"I did, but look!" You puled out the autograph, "I got this autograph for you! We also took a picture together for you." You hoped that the excitement of the gift would overturn his shock, and you were right.

Choromatsu let out the loudest, most high-pitched squeal you had ever heard as he grabbed the autograph with trembling hands.

You pulled out your phone to show him the photo, he immediately started to cry, his face flushed and full of adoration for you.

"Are you okay?!" You asked, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his tears, you had no idea his devotion to Nyaa-chan was this strong.

"Y-You did all this for me?" He asked as you wiped his face, "Why did you go through all this trouble for me?"

You chuckled shaking your head, "It was really no trouble, and I thought you would like it. I wish you would have been there too to meet her."

At this the tears started to flow again, and he started to mumble incoherent things.

"Choromatsu!" You giggled lightly, even though this reaction was pretty ridiculous, you were happy you had made him so happy.

After a moment of blubbering and you holding him to try and calm him, he finally stopped.

"I really have to get these ingredients in a hurry, so just wait here okay? I'll be two minutes tops." You left him with your hanky and rushed into the store.

He just sat on the bench outside, thinking of what a whirl-wind of emotions today had been. Obviously, Totoko had been right about everything. You had been so kind and thoughtful today, not only with thinking of him, but also above all else, with helping Nyaa-chan! He felt guilty to have doubted you.

You returned in a flash from the store, "Hey, sorry for the wait!" You were carrying a ton of bags, and Choromatsu insisted on helping you, after safely storing his autograph first.

"I-I have to confess something to you.." Choromatsu had finally mustered up the courage to speak with you directly about his troubles.

His wording surprised you, was he about to confess, like, his feelings?!

"I need to apologize to you." Choromatsu said quietly, "I misjudged you, I was really surprised about all that.. stuff.. you said the other night. I didn't know what to think about it, and I got really confused. So, I'm sorry."

"What?.." You started, even more surprised, "You don't need to apologize to me about that, of course you were surprised, and I expected everyone to need to think about things. I told you all that I was always available to talk, so I'M sorry if I did something to make you feel like you couldn't talk to me."

"Oh." Choromatsu paused, a little shocked and very embarrassed, "W-Well.. It's just that.. we haven't ever really.. I didn't know if you even…"

Oh. You had figured it out.

"Choromatsu.. I'm really sorry, I've just been.. really busy I guess, I didn't mean to make you feel left out. I would absolutely love to get to know you more, and we can hang out anytime you want to, okay? I'm just, different from you six. Like, it's sort of an adjustment for me too? If that makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we just have different temperaments. I'm a lot more open than most of you, I'm a naturally affectionate person, even with platonic friends. I'm comfortable holding hands, hugging, even kissing my friends, but I realize that most people aren't like that. I have to keep that in mind and make adjustments to my behavior so I don't make anyone uncomfortable. It's obvious that you six are not comfortable with that much affection, and I don't want to make you feel bad!"

"O-Oh.. That's true, but.. I think it's more that we just aren't used to it.. yet…" He replied, looking down shyly, "B-But.. I think I speak for all of us when I say that… w-we want to be.."

You smiled softly, "If my hands weren't so full I would give you a big hug."

He flushed, "T-Thanks.. I'll try to be more honest.. and not get so caught up in my own thoughts about everything. L-Like you said, I also think it's best to just 'go with the flow'.."

By this time you had almost made it back to work, "I'm really happy to be living with you all. I know it has only been a few months, but.. I really feel.. So happy and comfortable with you and your brothers." You turned to smile at him, "Thanks for helping me with my bags, I'll see you at home."

He smiled at that, "Of course.."

You took his bags and were about to go inside when he called out to you, "H-Hey!"

You turned to look at him.

"C-Could you.. send that photo to Totty's phone?…"

You laughed, "Sure thing!" then you went inside to deposit the bags and he turned to walk home.

As he was walking away, he felt so much lighter, more peaceful.

"Choromatsu!" You called, running after him your hands now free.

He turned right as you collided with him, your arms outstretched and holding onto him in a tight hug as both of you tried to remain steady.

"Here's that hug I promised."

Both of you laughed, feeling light-hearted and holding each other.

-A/N-

Hey all! Hope you like Choro's chapter. He was definitely the hardest for me to write, so I hope you like it.

You may be wondering, since all the bros have had a chapter now what's next for the story. I want to assure you that i'm not ending it yet. I want to develop your relationship with each brother, and add in a bit more about totoko due to popular demand. You still have quite the journey ahead of you!

P.S. As always thanks for all the support! I especially love reading and replying to your comments 3


	9. Bonus Chapter: Birthday Special

Here is a little short story for their bday! I had decided to stop updating this fic here and only update on AO3 or deviantart, but i guess i do still have some readers here. so i'll keep updating! I just hate fanfiction's formatting.

You were very lucky to have intercepted the mail yesterday. It just so happened that you were the one to check the mail, and the NEETs had gotten a package from their mom and dad. They all seemed to be preoccupied at the moment, and you were rather curious about their parents.

You weren't going to open it or anything, but you couldn't help it that the card had slipped out of the box and opened….

Well… It wouldn't hurt to peak..

As soon as you picked up the note, the bright bold "Happy Birthday" stood out.

It's their birthday? You hastily opened the note and read the date.

Oh thank goodness, it wasn't until tomorrow.

That meant you still had time. You pulled out your phone to ask Rinko for the day off, and to inform Totoko of your plans to see if she wanted in. Then you hid the package in your room until tomorrow so that the NEETs wouldn't see it early.

The next day, Totty went to work without you as you had told him the night before that you had the day off. He thought it was strange since it was a weekday, but didn't mention anything. You also told Ichimatsu, even though he went to work later than you, he and Totty both visited you on their respective breaks.

Now it was just a matter of being able to make the cake in peace without the jobless NEETs bothering you at home. That's where Totoko came in.

You somehow manages to sneak over to her house with everything you needed for the cake, it was truly a birthday miracle.

"Why the hell do you have so much stuff?! You need all this to make one cake?" Totoko chided you, a bit annoyed at your overzealous efforts.

"Well, I'm actually making seven cakes!" You began to get into the baking zone, Totoko knew you didn't need her help, so she just sat at the table watching you work.

"Seven?! Why? Even their mom doesn't go to that much effort, you're absolutely ridiculous." She huffed.

"Well, since they have to share a birthday I didn't want them to have to share a cake too. So I decided to make seven individual cakes and one regular sized cake for everyone. Plus, I took the whole day off, I might as well get some practice in too."

"Tch." Totoko waved you off, "You don't need to go to all this trouble for them you know."

"Don't worry Totoko, when your birthday comes around I'll shower you with affections and confections too, hehe." You chuckled at your own joke. "There's no need to be so jealous."

"I am NOT jealous of those six losers!" Totoko shrieked standing up, "Don't make me whip you like you're whipping that icing."  
Now you laughed at Totoko's joke, after all your favorite humor involved sweets.

Once you had carefully finished and wrapped up all seven cakes came the hardest part, throwing the party.

You had waited until Totty and Ichimatsu were sure to be home, and then you and Totoko went back over to your house. You sent Totoko in first to distract the NEETs while you waited outside with the cakes. After a few moments you went in to hang up some decorations and set up the cakes on the table along with the present from their parents.

You couldn't hear any noise coming from the house, and you had finished with plenty of time to spare. You even set out the plates and silverware while you waited anxiously for the boys to rush in and ruin the surprise, but they didn't.

After a few more minutes of waiting, you thought Totoko would have sent them out by now, you went to check on them.

When you went into the back room, Totoko had tied up all six of them and they looked petrified.

"Totoko, what the hell!" You looked at her incredulously, "Why did you tie them up? I'm done!"

"Oh, well you said to keep them busy.." She shrugged.

"I meant like, talk to them!" You sighed, beginning to untie them, "You can't be so mean to them on their birthday."

At this they all perked up, "It's our birthday?" Totty asked. All of them were untied by now.

"Oops, I ruined my own surprise!" You face palmed laughing, "Oh well. Happy birthday!"

They all looked at you and Totoko in surprise.

"How did you know?" Choromatsu blushed lightly.

"Someone went through your mail like a creep." Totoko said nonchalantly.

"N-No I didn't! I just intercepted a package.. Sorry."

"That's okay! I go through your mail too!" Jyushimatsu grabbed you in a tight hug.

"J-Jyushibee, don't go through my things, we've talked about this." You shook your head, he nodded assuring you he wouldn't.

"Well it's nice that you knew. We totally forgot, Mom is usually here to remind us to celebrate." Osomatsu chuckled, wiping his nose.

"You forgot your own birthday?" You couldn't believe that.

"Why does it matter what day we were born?" Ichimatsu said looking at the wall instead of at you.

"Oh please, enough of all this, let's get this done!" Totoko interrupted and walked out to the main room.

"Get what done?" Karamatsu asked, looking at you with a curious expression.

You smiled slyly, "I guess you'll have to come see!~"

The six brothers rushed after you and Totoko to the main room, where the two of you popped some confetti.

"Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Both of you cheered, although Totoko added "You shitty virgin NEETs" at the end.

"Woah.." All of them stared in shock.

Jyushimatsu bounced around the room in excitement, getting tangled in the decorations and putting on his yellow birthday hat you had set out.

"Y-You did all this for us?" Choromatsu asked shyly.

"Not me, she did all of this, I just came along for the ride." Totoko smiled, "You six are really lucky."

You blushed, "Oh you helped too Totoko!"

She just shook her head, "She even took off work today to make all of this for you."

This was when they noticed your six individual cakes, each with their own personalized decorations and colors.

They looked up at you with flushed faces and teary eyes.

"W-Woah, it's not that big of a deal! I just really like birthdays and baking…" You were a bit embarrassed at all of the attention.

All of them charged in to envelope both you and Totoko in a giant birthday hug, but Totoko ducked out of it.

You hadn't noticed, but Totoko was cutting the main cake.

"We haven't sang yet! Don't cut the cake!" You fussed at her.

"Oh, psh. That's little kid stuff." Totoko laughed, "You're so old fashioned."

She stopped cutting anyways, "Since I'm the idol here, my present for you all is this birthday song."

She proceeded to sing the best rendition of happy birthday you had ever heard.

"Now, I'll be taking my leave. Happy birthday!" She took her piece of cake and went home before you could protest.

The brothers were now openly weeping, which freaked you out a bit, Totoko probably anticipated this. She could've warned you!

"Guys, c'mon, it's a birthday not a funeral! No reason for the tears!"

They tried to compose themselves, "It's just.. No one but ~mommy~ has gone so far for us before. You are our sweet birthday ~princess~." Karamatsu blubbered taking your hand to kiss it, getting it wet in the process.

"It's your birthday, so you should be the birthday princes. Let's all have some cake now, maybe that will make you feel better."

"We feel AMAZING! Like 100 home runs! No, NO! 1,000 HOME RUN!" Jyushimatsu bounced to his spot, promptly taking his cake and eating a huge bite out of it. His face became deadly serious.

"W-What is it? Is it bad? Do you like it?" You asked raising your hand to your face in worry.

He turned to look at you with his eyes huge and wide, then suddenly he launched from the table straight into your arms. "It's YUMMY! Thank you!" he smiled widely and his lips met yours.

"G-G-G-GAAAH!" The other five screeched.

You were in shock, both from the sudden (and almost supersonic) movement from Jyushimatsu and from being suddenly kissed.

The kiss was almost as fast as Jyushimatsu though, and was over in an instant. He was immediately back in his seat finishing his cake as if nothing had happened.

The other five composed themselves a lot faster than you expected and sat down putting on their hats and trying their own cakes.

"You put so much work into these! Are they all separate flavors?!" Osomatsu was digging into his cake.

You composed yourself, your cheeks still a little hot, "Yes they are, the icing is also different on each and they have unique fillings.. I tried to pick out flavors to match the color palettes that I thought you would each like."

Todomatsu looked up at you in awe, "This must have taken all day!~ You're so sweet."

You rubbed your head, "Aw, well, it was worth it. I wanted you all to have a nice birthday, and I thought that you would want your own cakes since you share the birthday spotlight with each other."

"Thank you.." Ichimatsu mumbled.  
"Since it's our birthday, I think we should get a birthday kiss like Jyushimatsu, or it's not fair." Osomatsu suddenly spoke up.

Everyone whipped around to look at him.

"You want birthday kisses?" You couldn't help but laugh, "I've never heard of that."

Osomatsu flushed lightly, "Well… Jyushimatsu got one."

"Jyushimatsu literally flew into my arms and kissed me."

"I think you're being greedy, per usual." Choromatsu huffed at his brother, "She already went through so much trouble for us today."

"I mean, I already said I wanted to do this for you, so it's not any trouble." You reminded them.

"What did we ever do to deserve such a selfless angel?" Karamatsu was savoring every bite of his cake as if it was the last thing he would ever taste.

"Really though, this cake is amazing." Todomatsu chimed in again, leaning in to give you a peck on the cheek in thanks.

You smiled brightly, and touched your cheek. Then all of them began to compliment your cooking, the decorations, and just you in general, hoping to get some of your attention.

"This is your birthday, not mine!" You laughed, grabbing the two brothers on either side of you in a warm hug.

"Well.. maybe when it's your birthday we can do something for you!" Choromatsu smiled, looking over to you.

"Like play baseball in our birthday suits!" Jyushimatsu yelled.

"Now that would be a very interesting birthday." You laughed loudly, trying to imagine that.


	10. Chapter 10: Shop with the NEET

It had been a while since you all celebrated the brothers' birthdays. You had so much fun pampering them and making all of those sweets! Thankfully, your apprenticeship had started to shape up, and you were finally getting the kitchen time you wanted. You had also figured out how to run the front desk fairly well. Although you didn't appreciate it at first, you came to realize that Rinko had actually been looking out for you as she had been teaching you the skills you would need to run your own store one day.

It felt like everything was going your way, for once! You took a deep breath of fresh air, you had a long day at work yesterday, but instead of feeling exhausted you felt exhilarated for the new day. It seemed like everything these days pumped you up to work harder.

You had woken up a little earlier than normal, not for any particular reason, but just naturally waking up feeling refreshed. You glanced in the mirror, even if your mind was in good shape, you had to admit you were neglecting your body a bit. You couldn't remember the last time you had a haircut, and your daily self-care routine had gotten shorter and shorter.

Keeping this in mind, you decided to use your spare time to take a nice bath and treat yourself a bit.

You gathered your things for the bath along with your clothes for the day. You prepared your bath exactly how you liked it, just looking at your setup began to relax you. You could hardly wait to get in the water.

As you began to soak in the bubbles, you thought how it would be so nice to be able to do this every day. You would really have to start taking better care of yourself. After all, it is important to schedule some 'me' time every now and then.

You relaxed more, the tension in your body melting away as you soaked in the tub, deeply inhaling the calming smells. You stretched out, letting out a pent up breath. You had to be careful not to fall asleep due to being so incredibly relaxed.

Finally, after you had your fill, or rather you convinced yourself that you really did have to go to work, and that no, you really couldn't live in this tub forever, you were able to part with the heavenly bath.

You drained the water and went to comb through and blow dry your hair.

"Hm." You examined your blow dryer, it wouldn't turn on.

"That's really weird, maybe one of the guys has a blow-dryer?" You tried to imagine them styling their hair, "Karamatsu or Totty has one, for sure."

You got dressed for the day and wrapped your hair in a towel for now, you looked kind of silly, but you didn't want to get your clothes wet.

The first brother you ran into happened to be Jyushimatsu, who was on his way out to play baseball, per usual.

"Ah, Jyushibee! Is everyone else still asleep?" You asked, as he was usually the first to rise.

He nodded vigorously, "Yes! Sleepy-heads are still asleep, they didn't want to go play with me, again!"

You figured he probably asked his brothers to play every day as he used to with you. Now you just play with him every so often when you're off from work, so he doesn't ask every single morning anymore.

"Also, what is that eating your head?" Jyushimatsu pointed to your towel, his eyes widening.

"It's just a towel, ya goof." You laughed, it felt nice first thing in the morning. You unwrapped your head to show him.

"Oooh! I thought you were doing something new with your hair!" Jyushibee giggled.

"Well, I do need a blow-dryer, do you know if one of your brothers has one?"

Once again, he nodded, but this time he grabbed your hand and led you into his parents room.

"Is it okay if i'm in here?" This was your first time seeing their parent's room.

He just stared at you and shrugged, then he pointed at a vanity with an extensive set up including a lot of makeup supplies and hair products. You noticed the pink hairdryer, but felt uneasy using mom-matsu's things.

"I don't think I can use your mom's things, Jyushibee."

He stared again, but laughed loudly, "That's Totty's!"

You looked at him in surprise, but then.. Looking back at the vanity, there was an awful lot of pink items, you could've guessed.

"Do you think Totty will mind? Why does he keep his things in here anyway?"

"I think if it's you it's A-OK! He doesn't like us to touch them, so he keeps it in here, and mom uses it too!" Jyushimatsu pulled you into a goodbye hug, a blush tinting his cheeks.

You giggled and hugged him back, he had always been one of the more affectionate brothers, but since you had explained how you were polyamorous, he had been even more affectionate. Usually, when he greeted you or said goodbye you would get peppered with kisses, hugs, or at least he would hold your hand. It felt nice that he wasn't put off by your explanation, but you definitely understood that everyone had their own pace.

You waved bye as he began his workout chant and headed out the door, then you settled into the plush vanity seat.

As the door shut, you could hear another open. You guessed someone else was up, you hoped it wasn't from the noise you had made.

You had just began blow-drying, when you looked up to see a wide-eyed matsu.

It was Totty, of course. You hoped he wasn't upset.

You switched off the blow-dryer, "Hey! I, uh, I hope it's okay that i'm using your stuff, Jyushimatsu showed me. My hair-dryer is on the fritz."

He flushed, "Oh! No that's totally cool, so cool."

"You sure you're okay?"

He paused, "You don't.. think it's weird that I have all this stuff or anything?"

"What? No way! All of this is so cool, I bet you know so many more makeup tricks than I do." that thought hadn't even crossed your mind, Totty had such flawless skin, lashes, and luscious lips it really shouldn't be a surprise that he wears makeup. Unless he was just a perfect adonis naturally, that is.

"Oh!~ Well, in that case, why don't you let me do your makeup for today? I promise I'll do your natural cuteness justice!" He cooed, you could tell he was absolutely ecstatic at this opportunity.

"That sounds great, just tell me what I should do!"

He clasped his hands together in excitement, "How amazing! Okay, well first let's do your hair."

"M-My hair? I thought-"

"Well, your hair is just sopping wet still, I hope you used a heat-protectant before you started." He moved behind you, taking the blow-dryer from your hand.

You stared at him blankly, you didn't even know what that was.

He giggled lightly, "I'll get some, and while I'm at it.." He proceeded to spray and dab several products into your hair.

"Your poor hair is so dry!" He examined your split ends, "If you want, we can go to my salon sometime, they are great."

"That sounds amazing, I really need a cut, as you may have noticed." You laughed, you should feel a little awkward, but you didn't, it was Totty after all, you completely trusted him.

He proceeded to walk you through exactly what he was doing, and before you knew it your hair was resting in curlers as he did your makeup.

"Wow Totty, this is like, the best I've probably ever looked."

"Oh, don't be silly, you're always beautiful!" Totty smiled softly, then realized what he had said and turned bright pink.

"You're so sweet Totty!" You smiled happily, it did feel nice to be pampered.

As he finished up your makeup, taking quick breaks to apply his own morning routine, you were really amazed at how talented he was.

"Todomatsu, seriously, you have a gift!" He had taken hardly any time at all, and you looked great. In fact, he perfectly captured the style that you felt suited you best.

He blushed lightly, "Oh stop it~"

You had been so entranced by Todomatsu's skills and were having such a fun time, you didn't notice the time.

"Ahh! Oh no! Oh no!" You glanced at your watch, "Totty, we have to be at work, like, now!"

He turned to you in shock, "What? Already?!"

You nodded, "We only have a few minutes, we'll never make it!"

Totty had run out of the room to get his bag, you had yours already, and you began to think.

Maybe you did have a way to get to work.

When Totty returned you grabbed his hand to rush out the door, "It looks like you're getting that motorcycle ride early, Totty!"

You had rushed into Totoko's house in a frantic hurry, thankfully her parents were up due to their shop.

You thrust your only helmet in Totty's arms, you would really need to invest in another one.

"B-But, you should wear it, I don't want you to get hurt!" Totty started to hand you the helmet back, but you insisted he keep it.

"It can't be helped, I'll have to get another helmet for passengers, and since I'm driving I'm responsible for you!" You explained, hopping on the bike.

Thankfully Totoko had kept her in great condition, your ride was totally beautiful.

If you had to imagine the most badass bike in the world, that was perfectly tailored to you, she was 100% it.

Although your driving was a bit rusty, you had taken her for a spin a few times since Totoko gave her back to you. You had even had practice with a passenger, Totoko would never admit it, but she missed riding with you, so you had insisted you go for a spin.

"Hold on tight, Totty!" You smiled at him, starting the bike and pulling out of the garage.

Totty's heart was beating out of his chest, at first he wasn't sure how he was supposed to hang on, but with your reassurance he hung on to your waist. As you pulled out into the road and gained speed, he held onto you tighter, pushing against your back.

Todomatsu had never been on a motorcycle before, and the hum of the bike along with the fast-paced view was exhilarating.

Your hair was flying everywhere, thankfully he had used a lot of hair-spray and was certain it would hold, but he thought you looked perfect.

You zoomed through traffic, feeling a little reckless since Totty was your precious cargo this morning, but you would hate for him to get fired or for you to be on bad terms with Rinko.

His arms felt nice and warm around you, and he didn't know that you couldn't hear him over the whirl winds so he was trying to tell you something. You would ask when you got to his work.

You pulled up to his Sutabaa, stopping so he could get off.

You saw some of his coworkers and patrons looking at you both through the windows, you thought Totty had noticed as well from the glance he gave them after he took off his helmet and handed it to you.

"That was soo amazing!~ I've never done anything like that, I'm sure we looked so cool." He gushed to you, putting his hands on his chest and smiling wide.

"Yeah! Next time we can go on a longer ride if you want, but I gotta jet now, have a good day Totty!" You put on the helmet, even though you were only a few blocks away.

He waved enthusiastically as you drove off, he was so cute you couldn't help but get a few butterflies in your stomach.

Miraculously, you made it on time to work. Rinko even complimented on your ride and said you could park it out front instead of the back if you wanted.

The customers seemed to like your ride as well, but you were surprised that Totty didn't text you for lunch as he normally did.

Ichimatsu on the other hand, strolled in per usual during his lunch shift and sat in a seat in the cafe. You waved at him when he came in and went to see if he wanted anything.

"Hello Sir!" You pretended to take his order like a waitress, "How are you doing today? Can I start you off with a drink?"

He smirked, trying not to laugh, "How about.. some milk."

"Oh, of course, _sir_ , right away!" You giggled, taking a sarcastic curtsy.

You returned after a moment with a cup of milk and a paw-print pastry, "Here's some milk for a pretty kitty, I threw in a special pastry for you too!"

Immediately, Ichimatsu turned bright red at your comment, it was too cute. You couldn't help but tease any one of them, it was just too easy and their faces were just too cute.

"I have to go back to work now, Ichimatsu. I hope you enjoy your lunch, thanks for stopping by today." You smiled at him brightly, stifling a giggle.

He was still completely flushed, but tried to cover it by nodding and drinking some of his milk.

As you returned to the counter, you checked your phone, still no sign of Totty.

You sent him a text as you were starting to get worried, Ichimatsu had headed home hours ago and you had decided to work through your break until you heard from him and just have a snack while you worked.

You were startung to close for the day when Todomatsu appeared. You wee relieved to see him, but you noticed he was carrying an assortment of things.

"I'll wait over here til you're done!~ I hope you had a great day." He smiled cheerfully sitting down at a table outside next to your bike, his words came out iin his usual sing-song tune.

You quickly finished up and excused yourself to Rinko. As you walked outside you noticed Totty was taking selfies with your ride.

As soon as he noticed you, he handed you your regular order from Sutabaa, "Here you go! Sorry for missing lunch today, my coworkers were hammering me with questions all during break."

"Thanks Totty!" You sipped your drink, "Questions about what?"

He raised a hand to his cheek, looking quite coy, "Oh you know, just about how cool you were, and how cool I was this morning! They had all sorts of questions about you and me, and well.. us!"

You pursed your lips slightly, he seemed to be enjoying the attention from his coworkers, which was totty-ally normal, but something wasn't sitting right.

Before you could ask him more, he handed you another bag.

"I also stopped by to get this! I hope you like it!" He cupped his round cheeks with his hands in anticipation.

You unwrapped the box, curious as to what was inside. To your surprise, it was a new helmet! A pink one of course.

"Oh Totty, that's sweet of you."

"I just wanted to be sure we were both safe! I didn't feel right about taking your helmet this morning, so I wanted to get another one for you to use! Well, I mean of course I can just use that one and you can use the original, or whatever, it doesn't really matter!" He giggled, "I just wanted us to be able to ride again together, that was soo fun!~"

You smiled softly, "I had fun too, but.. I don't plan on driving to work every day."

His face fell a bit, "That's okay! We can go somewhere else, actually.. I was wondering if you wanted to go for an outing now, to the mall."

"The mall? Did you need to get something?"

"Well, not exactly, but it's fun to just shop around!~ The mall is too far for walking, but if we rode there on your bike it would be better than a crowded bus or train, don't you think?"

He looked so excited, you didn't have it in your heart to turn him down, "Okay, we can go if you really want to."

"Yay!~" He squealed, "Oh, thank you! Plus you look soo cute today, you deserve to go out and show off a bit."

You had gotten more compliments than usual today due to Totty's handy-work. You knew that he thrived on this sort of thing, so it was no wonder he was getting wrapped up in the extra attention and potential status of being with you from his coworkers, but.. You two hadn't really discussed all that, you wondered what he had told them.

All of this weighed on your mind as you drove to the mall, Totty was clinging tightly to you the whole drive.

When you arrived he happily tugged you into all his favorite stores, pointing and picking out outfits he thought you would look cute in. You did the same for him, and he ate up the attention and compliments, he was easy to please and did look good in most of the outfits you picked out.

You had made a deal that you would try on the things he picked if he would try on an equal amount of what you picked. Most of the things you picked would actually suit him, but occasionally you would throw in something that could only be described as "painful" just for kicks.

Obviously, he was dedicated to seeing you in the large amounts of cute clothes he picked because he begrudgingly put on all the clothes you picked out. When he noticed you trying to sneak a picture though he would run back into the dressing room to avoid the humiliation.

It seemed he only trusted you to see him vulnerable like that, he would never go out into the world looking so "painful".

After purchasing a few things, the two of you decided to check out the food court to see if anything caught your attention. Eventually, you settled on sharing a parfait.

Totty had been taking selfies with you, solo selfies, and pictures of different things throughout the date. You had realized that this was the date he had promised you after the misunderstanding concerning you and Jyushimatsu. So you weren't surprised when Totty wanted to take pictures of the parfait and of you both sharing it.

"I've had a lot of fun today, Totty! So thanks for that. I'm still shocked we weren't late this morning." You chuckled, taking a spoonful of the parfait.

"Oh me too!~ I always have fun when I'm on a date with a cute girl, but I have to say, this is my favorite one so far~" Totty blushed slightly, "I've had a lot of fun with you too. It's.. easier you know?"

You shook your head, "No, what do you mean?"

"Like.. my coworkers at Sutabaa, I have to always try with them, and I always worry if I'm doing the right thing or not. It's like playing a strategy game, what move could I make that causes the best outcome. But with you.. You already know a lot of the embarrassing stuff about me, things I could never let them know, like my brothers.. You already know, but you like me anyways, right?"

You nodded, now his behavior earlier was making more sense, "Of course I do, Todomatsu."

He blushed and smiled, "I still like hanging out with my coworkers, and talking to other girls, even though it's different than what it's like talking or hanging out with you, but that's okay, isn't it? Like, because of what you said?.."

He must be referencing your polyamory talk, "Yeah, that's totally fine, there's no reason to feel guilty about any of that, as long as you're honest with everyone about it and they're all okay with it. Like, if you were to officially date two people at the same time I mean, just going on dates or flirting seems like it would be fine not to explain everything to, at least to me. You just don't want to lead anyone on or hurt feelings, so it's really up to your judgement when you want to have a talk with them about it."

He laughed dryly, "You.. seem to think that I go on second dates a lot. That really doesn't happen. Most of the time, my flirting doesn't really get me anywhere, and if it does.. A second date never happens, so I don't think hurting anyone would be a problem."

You were a little confused about the change in his mood, "Totty?.."

"Oh, sorry!" He immediately chippered up, "Don't mind me, I'm fine!~"

You frowned, "Todomatsu, you can be honest with me."

He froze, staying silent for a moment eating more parfait.

"W-Well. It's just.. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right to me or to them, or for both. Like, it's really fun to go on dates like this and to hang out, but it never gets to that fluttery romantic stage, at least it hasn't yet for me. I always have fun, and I like doing these things with cute people, but I've never really wanted to.. be exclusive with someone before." He fidgeted anxiously in his seat. "I like being told I'm cute, and I like attention from people. When you dropped me off at Sutabaa, everyone wanted to know about you and said we looked soo cool together. It was really nice."

"What did you tell them though? About us I mean?" You asked.

He flushed further, "Well.. I said, you were someone I liked. I didn't say we lived together or anything, that's too complicated, I just said we were friends and that we hung out a lot, I hope that's okay.."

You put your hand on his hand softly, for reassurance, "That's totally fine, I think that's pretty accurate for both of us. I like you a lot, Todomatsu, and I always have fun when I'm with you! Thanks for everything today, especially the helmet, that was really thoughtful."

He smiled at you, grateful for the chance to change the topic, he was feeling exposed, "I think pink was the best choice for the helmet, I mean, if any of the others had picked out one I'm sure it would be a disaster."

You paused a moment to consider the options, Osomatsu would have just said screw it and went without, Karamatsu would have picked a bedazzled helmet that blinded other motorists, Choromatsu would have picked a Nyaa-Chan themed helmet, Ichimatsu would probably pick out one with cat-ears, and Jyushimatsu would have picked one painted like a baseball.

"Yeah, I would have to agree with you there, your was definitely the best choice, and I bet the others would look great in pink too!"

You both laughed, and he gave your hand a squeeze.

After you finished up the parfait, the two of you left to go home.

As you began to fish the keys out of your purse, he asked if you could hear him when he talked to you on the bike.

You shook your head, explaining that the wind and such was too loud to understand, but you could hear him talk if he was loud enough. Then you asked him what he had said that morning.

He smiled, you could tell he had practiced this cutesy smile in the mirror, and told you, "I said, I felt so happy being able to hold on to you like that, and that you looked beautiful, especially your hair, courtesy of me."

You could feel the heat rising to your cheeks, you looked at him in surprise for a moment, he was being more forward than usual.

He surprised you more, by stepping in closer to whisper a thank you before kissing you.

Like Jyushimatsu, the kiss only lasted for a moment, but that was all it took to take your breath away.


	11. Chapter 11: 'Sea' the NEET

You woke up hearing your door open, but you knew who it was.

It was saturday, your day off, and you had already made plans for the day. The sun was barely peeking into your room, it was soo early you just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, but the boy who had entered your room wouldn't have that.

He knew how to wake you up!

Suddenly, even though you had begun to expect this ritual, you were pounced on and tickled.

"Ahh!" You tried to be quiet, but you couldn't control your giggles. You rolled over to face Jyushimatsu whose arms, unrestricted since he was wearing his baseball uniform not his usual hoodie, were flailing widely tickling you and shaking you awake.

He peppered you with tickles and snuck in a random kiss every once in a while, some landing on your hands, your cheek, or somewhere random like your elbow, as he chanted, "Wake up, wake up! The sun's up, the sun's up! It's time to wake up, wake up!"

"I'm up, little bumblebee!" You giggled, trying to tickle him back, but as usual he wasn't ticklish at all or he was great at controlling it.

He would humor you by smiling wider and flailing around like a noodle, even if he wasn't really feeling tickled.

You had one of your scheduled baseball games today, you would usually schedule one about every week or two, and some how this became the morning ritual for these occasions.

You ushered him out of the room so you could get dressed for the game. Although wearing his clothes was comfy, and pretty cute, you had come to play baseball so often you invested in some sporty clothes of your own. Slipping on a cute baseball cap, shirt, and shorts, you left your room to greet him.

"Mmm.. Somethings cooking?" You pondered, usually you were the one to make the meals around here.

As you walked into the kitchen, you were greeted by the warm smell of pancakes and syrup. Although, some of them were a little misshapen and burnt, you were still impressed.

"Wow! You made this by yourself?" You asked Jyushimatsu, who was currently fighting with some oranges and making a big, sticky mess trying to make a cup of juice.

He nodded, "I got up extra early today! You always make breakfast for us, so.."

He sloshed a cup full of mostly pulp towards you, which you happily drank, after all it is the thought that counts. He looked at you with anticipation to see if you liked it.

Of course, you smiled and thanked him, "You are so sweet, Jyushibee! Thank you so much for breakfast."

He just beamed at you, his cheeks a light pink, he was always happy to spend some one on one baseball time with you, but today he seemed exceptionally excited.  
You both sat down together to eat your meal, and you packed up the rest when you were finished so that when the other NEETs awoke they would have breakfast ready.

You headed out the door first, turning to start your trek to the field where you both played baseball, but Jyushimatsu jumped in front of you.

"Huh?" You asked, as he was blocking your path.

He just shook his head, "We're going somewhere else today!"

He was still wearing his baseball uniform.. So you assumed you would still be playing baseball, but where?

As the two of you walked along, it became clear that you were headed to the coast.

The beach was totally deserted, but with the overhanging cliffs it was actually quite lovely.

"Wow, I haven't ever seen this section of the beach before, you hit the jackpot with this place! I bet it's great for practicing."

Jyushimatsu nodded, but with slightly less enthusiasm than before, he seemed slightly troubled by something.

Before you could question him he jumped into baseball mode again and began happily barking out instructions for the workouts and practices you both should do.

You had to admit, these baseball workout had been getting you into better shape, it felt like your muscles from the old days were coming back. After going to college you had stopped being so active, so this was a nice change of pace!

But… he was working you pretty hard today, perhaps it was due to his strange change in atmosphere? It seemed like he was distracting himself by delving 210% (on an average day he was at 110%) into baseball and taking you with him!

"Jyushibee." You huffed, "Don't you think you're overdoing it today?"

"What? Don't be silly! There's no way we can stop now, we are just getting started!" He noticed that you were actually pretty sweaty and looking a little worn down. "Well, maybe if you can pass a test we can take a short break."

"All right! Bring it on, what's the challenge." Your competitive-nature was showing.

"If you can tag me out with the ball, you can choose what we do next!" Jyushimatsu beamed, tossing you a ball and readying himself to bat.

Oh man, this would be a real challenge, not only would you have to catch him, but first you would have to run to get the ball, that he would surely hit who knows how far away.

However, you never back down from a challenge.  
You nodded, stretched a bit, and readied yourself, "Game on."

You threw the ball as hard as you could, by now Jyushimatsu and you were on the same baseball rhythm, so you no longer worried about hurting him.

With a crack the ball went flying, and you immediately darted off running.

Jyushimatsu ran around the pretend bases as he watched you.

You had to be fast if you wanted to catch him, you pushed yourself to run as fast as you could.

You were just behind the ball as it soared in the air, you were waiting for the perfect moment, as soon as it began to get within reach you jumped into the air, catching the ball and skidding to a stop in the sand.

It was a miracle you didn't bit it then and there, but you bolted off into Jyushimatsu's direction.

He immediately ran away, completely ignoring the imaginary bases.

He was fast, and you had already ran quite a ways, but you were determined to get him.

You could hear him laughing happily as he ran, you were huffing and your lungs burned, but you wouldn't stop!

With a final burst of speed, mostly due to your incredible determination, you lunged into the air, hoping to tackle him.

He anticipated your move and spun around quickly to catch you.

You both skidded in the sand a few feet due to the force, but he had grabbed your forearm so you couldn't tag him with the ball.

Great, not only did you have to run a marathon, tackle him to the ground, but now you had to wrestle him.

You grinned, "Jyushimatsu Matsuno, you never make things easy for me! But.. you do make things fun."

He smiled back, and the both of you wrestled around in the sand, with you desperately trying to tag him and Jyushimatsu dodging or blocking your attempts.

It ended up with you leaning over him as he was 'pinned' under the sand (although you had a sneaking suspicion that if he really wanted to, he could free himself at any time). You were desperately trying to force your arm forward to tag his chest, but his grip was preventing your arm from moving any further forward.

He was very strong, and you began to lose steam.

You wracked your mind for an idea, you may not be able to physically overpower him, so how were you going to tag him?

You clenched the ball tighter in frustration, you didn't want to admit defeat!

Suddenly, an idea popped into mind, you grinned, that would be playing a little dirty but..

You made eye contact with him, and he looked at you quizzically due to your huge grin.

You an opening and you took it.

You lunged forward quickly and made contact with his lips, you were kissing him.

In his surprise, he loosened his grip on your arm, and you swiftly tagged him with the ball.

You were about to pull back to brag about your success, when you felt his arms move to your back, embracing you softly.

Oh.

You guessed you should have expected this, since you did kiss him, but somehow you were still caught off guard.

Both of your eyes had fluttered closed, and you enjoyed a sweet kiss for a few moments.

Finally, you pulled back, but you remained within his embrace.

"Well, I got you!" You mumbled, giggling softly.

"You did, you did! Even if you cheated a little." Jyushimatsu teased you a bit, but his face was still bright pink and he was laughing from pure giddiness.

"That was the first time you kissed me, it was nice!" Jyushimatsu raised his hand to his mouth, probably out of habit as he normally would have on a baggy sleeve that would cover his face.

Wow, he was totally right, in face that was the first time you had kissed any of them!

The realization made your cheeks flush. "I thought it was nice too.." you mumbled shyly.

You stood up and offered him your hand to pull him up.

"So what do you want to do next?" He asked.

You supposed it was time to ask him about the strange atmosphere, "I want you to tell me what's going on, why did you seem upset earlier?"

"Ah." His pupils grew wide and he plopped down on the sand near the shore, he patted the ground quickly next to him, cueing you to sit down.

You sat in silence for a few moments and then he spoke, "Polyamory.. means lots of love, right?"

"Yeah, that's a pretty accurate description."

"I… I also love someone else." He stared out into the ocean, "This is where we met."

You were a little surprised, the brothers and Totoko had made it seem like none of the matsus had any dating experience at all.

"What's she like?" you asked and took his hand.

He looked at you with relief, he was worried you would be upset.

"Her name is Homura, but she doesn't live near here."

Then he told you about how they met, and their tragically short time together. He said that they write letters to each other sometimes and very rarely they talk on the phone, but that Homura is pretty busy a lot. He sounded really happy, but a little sad at the same time.

"Maybe I'll meet her one day, she sounds lovely Jyushimatsu." You smiled softly.

He smiled, though not quite as wide as normal, "That would make me really happy… I miss her! I told her about you, and she said the same thing! I think you both would be friends!"

He paused, blushlng lightly, "I don't know what I did to deserve to be so happy, and to have two really pretty, nice girls who like me!"

You could tell he was getting a little emotional, so you scooted closer to him and nuzzled against him.

"I think you're amazing, Jyushimatsu, and that you deserve all the happiness in the world! All you do is bring brightness and happiness, like a sweet bee."

He giggled and shyly wrapped an arm around you, and the both of you watched the waves together.

-A/N-

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed your "third heart event" with jyushimatsu, lol. Thank you for bearing with me, my inspiration for this fic just dwindled so I didn't feel like writing it, BUT a reader on deviantart made a really cute fanart that inspired me to finish up the next chapter! Here it is, from ch. 6: /021p0m0dp86t

I'm making the second round on the brothers again, where the feelings get more ~real~. I hope y'all liked that I included Homura, i don't super like it when ppl just pretend she never happened or that they're over it (BC... MY SHIPPER HEART WON'T LET THEM BE OVER IT LOL.) I just rly.. rly.. love homura... she's so good and she's so sweet/cute w jyushibee. i want a canon resolution on that sO BAD! Jyushibee rly opened up to you in this one 3 treat his heart gently.

Next chapter will be either kara or ichi, i have both planned out already so if you prefer one over the other let me know ;-)

As always, thanks for all the comments, bookmarks/subs, and kudos! I especially love to read and reply to your comments, they keep me going! 3


	12. Chapter 12: The NEET's Perfect Plan

You had really been improving at work, and Rinko had noticed. She was always praising you, along with your other co-workers, it was nice to be appreciated and supported! You could also see the change in your work, you were learning new techniques and just getting in the experience you needed to improve.

Even though you enjoyed the praise, what you really loved was seeing the patrons enjoy your work every day.

In fact, that's what you were doing right now. An especially lively group of girls were sharing one of your cakes, and they were raving about it from their seats so loudly you could hear them.

"Osoko, I wish you could cook like this, then the get togethers at your place wouldn't be so bland. This is absolutely the cutest cake I have ever seen." One girl said to another as she was taking pictures on her phone.

You didn't have a chance to listen to the most likely angry response from the other girl as you felt a tap on your shoulder.

You turned to see Rinko holding an envelope, "Hey, these came in the mail, I think it's from that idol we helped a while back, do you remember?"

How could you forget? It was all Choromatsu asked about for weeks. Sometimes, he would ask you to tell him the whole story, reliving every minute detail each time.

You nodded, "Oh yeah, Nyaa-chan. What is it?"

She pulled out two neon pink and green tickets, the sparkles inlaid on them nearly blinded you. It reminded you of a certain someone's "perfect fashion".

"She sent us tickets to her next show, and also a letter." Rinko handed you the letter.

"Thank mew for helping me-OW-t! The treats I bought were soo yummy too, I can't wait to stop by and get some more sometime soon! To purr-operly thank mew, I have included two VIK (Very Important Kitty) passes to my next concert, nyaa! I hope to see you there." You read the letter, at the bottom was a pink paw print, presumably her signature.

"Wow, that was pretty nice of her!" You said, but Rinko sighed.

"I'm not really interested in idols or concerts, but she seems interested, so I would like to take this opportunity to expand our customer base.." Rinko raised her hand to her chin to think, "Maybe she would place orders for her concerts… hmm."

Then she snapped, "Okay, I got it! Why don't we whip up a batch of Nyaa-chan themed goodies to take to the concert to give to her, and hopefully spark a deal."

"That's a great idea!" Immediately you began brainstorming ideas for the treats, they would have to be mass-produced if Nyaa-chan went for it, so—

Rinko snapped you out of your thoughts, "Why don't you take the reigns on this one? You've earned it with all your handwork. Bake some samples of what you come up with before the concert so I can approve them, then you can take them to Nyaa-chan at the concert."

You beamed, "Thank you so much, I won't let you down! Oh, but, are you not going to the concert then?"

Rinko shook her head, "Like I said, not my thing, since this is your project now, why don't you take someone cute out on a date to the concert?"

You already knew who would be the prime candidate for this one, but you hoped he could handle himself while you struck the deal! You giggled, already imaging how happy he would be when you asked him.

The rest of the day went without a hitch, and you were nearing closing time with about an hour left.

The chime of the door rang, and since you were manning the front you looked so you could greet the customer, "Hello, welcome to—"

An enormous bouquet of roses walked through the door, or should you say, a man holding an enormous bouquet of roses walked through the door.

"Karamatsu? Is that you behind those flowers?" Aside from the fact that this was a very Karamatsu circumstance, his shiny blue legs could be seen from behind the bouquet.

"Alas, it is me, my ~Karamatsu girl~, I have come to escort you home from work! I realize that I am early in my endeavor, so I will not distract from your important work. I must admit, I wanted to see you in your element, to admire you from ~afar~, to see how a true angel performs."

So… he wanted to see you in your uniform.

He confirmed your suspicions by peeking his head out from behind the flowers and flushing bright red.

"Well, my ~Karamatsu Man~, why don't you take a seat over there and I will bring you some refreshments, on me." You giggled.

The few patrons that were already in the shop looked perplexed, but continued on with their chatter.

"Y-Yes, of course, my ~hunny~. I will be here, waiting for your return!" He stumbled over to his seat, your words knocked him off his feet, he struggled to retain his "cool guy" demeanor.

You stifled a giggle, he was so fun to tease.

You made him a drink and brought him a slice of blueberry cake. "Here you are, thank you for coming to get me from work, and also for these flowers! Well, I'm assuming they're for me?"

He adjusted his shades, "Why yes, only the best flowers for you, but even these pale in comparison to your beauty."

You blushed lightly, you didn't know how he could say such things so easily, "They're lovely, they will definitely brighten up my room at home! Let me know if you need anything, I get off in about 45 minutes, I hope you don't mind waiting."

"I would wait forever just to have a moment of your time, princess."

Your heart skipped a beat, you couldn't believe his cheesy lines were working! He said them with such sincerity though, you couldn't help it.

You continued to help customers and slowly wrap things up at the front. Packing away leftovers, locking up supplies, and the like.

Karamatsu happily hummed quietly and waited, watching you and writing things down in a golden shiny notebook.

After a while, Rinko appeared from the back suspiciously close after one of your coworkers went into her office.

You happened to be giving Karamatsu a refill and she walked over to both of you.

"Oh, is that your boyfriend? Someone told me that he had come in here to see you, WOW that is a lot of flowers." She asked, eyeing Karamatsu's display. Rinko had definitely come out to check out Karamatsu, as your coworkers had all been giggling and gossiping about the… "interesting" guy with the huge bouquet.

Karamatsu froze at the word boyfriend, he turned to you slightly, a look of panic and hopefulness on his face.

You were a little surprised too, but without thinking you said, "Yeah, pretty much! Aren't they lovely?" you gestured to the flowers. "Oh, let me properly introduce you both, Karamatsu, this is Rinko, she runs this place and is my mentor, and this is.. m-my boyfriend, Karamatsu!"

"They sure are, you are a lucky one!" Rinko winked and bowed slightly in introduction to Karamatsu, who was desperately trying to hold himself together. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, thank you very much for all you have done." Karamatsu bowed deeply on your behalf.

You flushed slightly, Karamatsu has been so kind today!

"It's my pleasure, I have never had a better apprentice!" Rinko grinned widely, and then waved you two off saying to head out early for the day.

You thanked her and headed in the back to change, you also texted Totty and Ichimatsu to let them know not to pick you up or wait for you.

When you returned Karamatsu wasn't there, maybe he was outside?

You were a little nervous because of what you had said, it shouldn't be that awkward, you were dating even though you never talked about labels or anything.. You were a bit flustered, you hoped you hadn't overstepped and upset him.

You quickly headed to the door, and saw that Karamatsu was a few steps away with his back to you.

Walking towards him you called out to him, "Karamatsu, I—" But when you got closer and could see his face you saw he was crying, and not just a little bit but enormous crocodile tears.

"K-Karamatsu! What's wrong?" You panicked, stopping dead in your tracks.

He wiped his face with his sleeve, "I-I'm sorry you had to see that, ~b-baby~."

"Are you okay? Did I upset you? I just thought—"

A sob cut you off, he was crying but he had a huge smile.

"You just.. You just made me so h-happy when you called me your—" He paused to cry and wipe his eyes, "Y-Your b-b-boyfriend." He choked out.

"Oh Karamatsu.." You smiled softly and pulled him into your arms, even though it was a bit awkward with the bouquet in the way. "I didn't mean to make you cry, but I'm glad it made you so happy! I don't know what to say.."

"You don't have to say anything, your shining voice has already pierced my beating heart!~" He sniffled, his lines were somehow less effective with his snot and tears on your shoulder, but you didn't mind.

"Let's go home, okay?" You gently grabbed his hand after he composed himself, but his face was still red and his eyes were puffy. Quickly he covered that up with his sunglasses.

He nodded, and you began to walk home hand in hand.

"Ah!" He spoke after you were some ways down the street, "This wasn't what I had planned… Somehow, you always end up altering my ~perfect plan~."

You chuckled, "Well, what can I say? I'll do my best not to foil your next one."

"Well, we shall have to see how tomorrow goes then." He adjusted his shades, trying to appear mysterious.

"Oh? I'll bite your bait, what is happening tomorrow?"

He rubbed the last bit of tear and snot residue from his face with his sleeve. You tried to ignore it as you knew he was trying to set himself up for a dramatic reveal.

"I have spent every free moment since our last date coming up with the perfect date for a perfect girl." He paused, "That's you."

"That's very kind of you—"

"I researched a lot of things for dates! There were so many options, I knew it had to be a perfect day for you. After much debate, I settled on our agenda for tomorrow, if you would be so inclined as to accept a day with this ~guilt guy~, I promise to do my best to make your day as perfect as possible."

"Karamatsu, you don't need to go through all that trouble for me.." You flushed lightly, "I don't need such lavish things to have a good time, but I do appreciate it. Let's have fun tomorrow, I promise to stick to the agenda this time."

He grinned, so wide he almost looked like Jyushimatsu. Just like before, he was always so touched at the slightest praise or attention.. It made you wonder..

Karamatsu had instructed you to get up early in the morning so that you both could have a full day.

When you got up, you were roused by the sweet smell of coffee from the kitchen. You had brought home some sweets, so yo untold Karamatsu you could have that as a quick breakfast before hitting the road.

You walked into the kitchen to see him struggling with an elaborate set up of different sweeteners, sugars, and coffee grounds.

"Karamatsu?"

"Oh, my sweet, good morning! I have tried to provide you with as many options as needed for your coffee." He handed you a cup.

"Thank you ~honey~." You teased him, you felt it was a lost cause to try and stop him from going through all of the trouble.

He insisted on making your coffee under your direction so that it was exactly how you liked it, and then he said he would go make sure he had everything he needed for the day.

He had asked you if you both could take your motorcycle for the day, since some of the activities were far apart and they were all a ways a way from your house. Of course you agreed, plus you knew he also really wanted a ride. Totty had bragged to everyone about how fun it was when the two of you went for a spin.

Finally, both you and Karamatsu were ready to roll. You both put on your helmets and he gave you the instructions to get to the first stop of his ~perfect date~: a museum!

When you arrived, Karamatsu hopped off your bike and offered you his hand, like a true gentleman.

"My lady, you were so magnificent! That was exhilarating!"

"Aw, thanks Kara, I'll give you some pointers sometime!" You blushed lightly, and then you locked the bike and your helmets up.

"Woww! This place is huge." You looked around at all the signs for the different exhibits.

He flashed a smile, "I hope you like the inside even better, I was thinking we could check out the planetarium exhibit and the historical jewels, but I know there's no star or gem that could compare to you."

"Oh Kara!" You chuckled and lightly punched his arm, "You are too much, if you make me swoon this soon we won't be able to finish all the things you have planned."

With that you grabbed his hand and rushed in, "I'm excited, so let's get started!"

He was in awe, you weren't calling him painful or complaining.. You were laughing and teasing him a bit sure, but he could recognize it wasn't with ill-intent. He blushed at the warm touch of your hand in his, which you didn't let go as you strolled throughout the museum, even when his palms started to sweat.

After a few hours of examining the many exhibits, your stomach started to growl.

Karamatsu picked up on it immediately, "Just in time, there is a lovely botanical garden here where we can eat our lunch while our love blooms as magnificently as the flowers."

He led you to the garden, which was absolutely stunning, and proceeded to guide you to a table while he went to get food for you both.

This was when you realized that Karamatsu had been paying for everything all day. He had bought the tickets before hand, which were no doubt expensive, and now he had insisted on buying the food. Before that, those flowers were surely expensive along with the elaborate coffee set up…

How in the world had he been paying for all this, he was a NEET after all!

He brought back some lunch and drinks, and noticed your troubled expression.

"What's wrong, my Karamatsu Girl?" He pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Oh.. Well, I was just.. thinking.." You were trying to piece things together.

His face fell, "W-What do you mean?"

You quickly shifted gears, knowing he was probably feeling insecure, "It's nothing, you're totally fine and I'm having so much fun!" You waved your hands in front of him, "I promise! It's just… I don't mean to sound rude, but Karamatsu, um, are you okay with paying for everything?"

"Oh.. You are too kind to me, truly an angel." Karamatsu sighed with relief, "I want to spoil you today.. Like a princess should be treated."

Your face flushed and you smiled in embarrassment, "Karamatsu! You're always saying things like out of a movie, how can you say them so sincerely?!"

Karamatsu froze for a moment, with a confused look, "What do you mean?.. I say them because I do mean them.."

'At least… I mean them when I say them to you..' He thought.

You both looked at each other for a moment, faces flushed, then he spoke, smiling and sliding on his shades, "Plus.. These lines suit such a ~cool guy~ like me, don't they?"

You burst out laughing, "Karamatsu, you're too funny."

When you calmed down your laughter, you spoke again, "But, seriously Karamatsu, like I keep saying I don't need 'perfect' to be happy, I just like hanging out with you! I feel like.. did you take so long to ask me on a second date because you wanted to plan it out like this and needed to save up the money?"

He froze, turning sheet white.

Bingo.

"Look, why don't I pay for the next thing we do? I'm happy to pay sometimes too! Don't you deserve to be spoiled like a prince as well?"

Karamatsu looked at you, blinking a few times, "Me?"

"Well, if I'm your princess as you say, then you're my prince right?" You took a drink, you were still starving.

He looked touched, "I-I suppose so!"

"It's decided then! Let's dig in and then head out to the next activity, I'm pumped!" You grinned, digging into your food, "Oh, this is really good!"

He smiled softly, "Okay."

Karamatsu had thoroughly enjoyed watching your excitement and awe at all of the exhibits and the garden, he hoped he would get a similar reaction from the aquarium that was next on the list.

Of course, he was totally right.

"Oh wow! I love aquariums, this is going to be soo fun, thanks Kara!" You beamed, looking around like a little kid.

"Let's go look around then!" He smiled, you nodded and looped your arm around his walking in.

He was still shocked every time you touched him and you had been showering him with affection today as well. He was trying so hard to keep his cool, but you were making it difficult.

"Ohh, look at the jellyfish! Aren't they so pretty?" You tugged his arm, pointing at the display.

"They are! Do you like them?" He blushed, turning to look at you as you gazed happily at the jellies.

"I love them! The way they float around so graceful and freel, without a care in the world, that's great don't you think?" You smiled at him.

"Ah, yes they are wonderful. I'm a little surprised though, I would have thought you would like something else better."

"Oh? Like what?" You unlooped your arm from his so you could get a closer look.

"Like, the main exhibit, something striking! Most people go to aquariums to see the sharks and things like that."

You laughed, "I suppose so.. I used to be called things like scary in school, people didn't want to hang out with me a lot, like I was a shark or something. They wanted to look at me and gawk, like people do here, but they didn't want to get closer to me or understand me.. Maybe that's why I like more delicate things now, like sweets and jellyfish! Ah, but I still like all the things I used to, so maybe I haven't changed that much."

You looked up to see Karamatsu staring at you, "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to ramble like that!" You flushed lightly, how embarrassing spilling your guts like that in public.

"Well, I think I sort of know what you mean.." Karamatsu looked into the water.

You looked at him, maybe he meant how everyone calls him painful and picks on him?

"Well, whatever right?! Who cares what anyone thinks as long as we know we're awesome! You just gotta love yourself and love each other and you'll be fine!" You grabbed onto his hand tightly and clenched your fist in the other, "At least, that's what I used to tell the girls who I ran with back in the day, but hey it's never failed me before."

He looked at you in surprise, "Is that so?…"

You flushed deep red, "Y-Yeah, sorry about that, I'm just going off again, haha…"

"Heh.." Karamatsu closed his eyes smiling, "I think that's beautiful… Just like you."

He raised your hand and kissed it.

Your eyes widened, "K-Karamatsu!"

"Let's go look at the big, scary sharks then, shall we? Let's get to know them." Karamatsu smiled, blushing lightly.

"Okay." You smiled, and you both walked to the main exhibit hand in hand.

Hey all! I felt so bad for neglecting Kara, so here's a sweet chapter to make up for it. 3 hope y'all enjoy! Ichimatsu or Choromatsu is next, who would you like to see?

ALSO! Y'all are spoiling me with fanart! Look at this: /021p0m0dp86t 18r6NTApWAw… and art/Do… 3 I LOVE IT!

Thanks for all the comments, faves, watches, and support as always! 3


	13. Chapter 13: Concert with the NYAA-EET

You were on your way home from work with the other two working NEETs, the treats you had submitted to Rinko for approval had worked out! You were elated to be able to present these to Nyaa-Chan, especially since you had labored extensively over them.

Choromatsu had been incredibly eager, and insistent, on helping you with the designs. It had taken him a bit to overcome the initial shock of your proposal though…

"Choromatsu, I have something pretty exciting to tell you!" You had told him after coming home from work, the day after your date with Karamatsu since you had forgotten the tickets in your hurry.

"What is it?" He asked, trying not to seem as curious as he had been.

You were pleased Choro had calmed down relatively around you since you had helped him with his resumes and other strategies.

"Okay, don't.. well, it's okay to be excited I guess! Remember when Nyaa-chan came into my shop a while back? Well we got these tickets in the mail, so do you wanna go with me?"  
He froze, eyeing the tickets in disbelief, "Those… are….. V-V-V-V. I. K. tickets!"

You were prepared for his screech, but you still jumped a little, "Yep! I'm going to work on making some Nyaa themed pastries too for the show—"

"We… We would get to meet Nyaa-Chan! Go.. Go to the s-s-show, a-and…. meet Nyaa-Chan…."

"Yeah, if you want to!" You giggled.

He had turned towards you, eyes teary and mouth tight in a little 'v', you could never forget it.

"O-Of course I w-w-w-want to go!"

After that, he was constantly talking to you, and himself, about his plans for the show, what to wear, what you should wear, how meeting Nyaa-Chan would go, and how it would 'go better than last time'. Whatever that meant.

But most of all, he had been relentless in helping you design the sweets. He was insistent that everything had to be perfect, you were almost more nervous to give him the final product than you were to show Rinko!

You chuckled as you neared your house, remembering how frustrated he became when you suggested a fish decoration (because cats like fish right?). It turns out, Totoko and Nyaa were rivals of sorts, so that would be "disrespectful" to Nyaa chan.

He had been in utter panic just thinking of the idea, so you assured him there would be absolutely no fish.

"We finally made it! I'm excited to give Choromatsu these for a proper inspection." you chuckled as you finished reminiscing.

Ichimatsu, Todomatsu, and yourself had finally made it to the door of your home.

"You are so kind to humor him, just what I would expect from you." Totty cooed.

"Well, I'm always up for a challenge!"

"That's obvious…." Ichimatsu murmured.

Once you were inside, you made a beeline to the boys' room to find Choromatsu, who was undoubtedly listening to Nyaa-Chan in a meditative state as he had been for days. Apparently, this was his ritual before concerts.

"O Great Nyaa-Chan, may you look upon me and guide me with your shining, divine light as I greet your humble Nyaa servant. May he look upon these offerings with good graces." You said a quick prayer before entering the shrine.

"We've completely lost her.." Ichimatsu groaned.  
"She's in too deep into the Nyaa Abyss.. O Great Nyaa-Chan, please bring her back to us safely and Nyaa free after this trying, idiotic time is finished." Totty mock prayed and fell into a tizzy of giggles as Ichimatsu subtly smiled.

You hadn't heard either of them, as you had already entered the Nyaa Shrine (aka, their room), but if you had you would have laughed.

"Shrine keeper, please allow me entry to offer my blessings to the Holy Nyaa." You tried not to giggle as you greeted Choromatsu.

"O-Oh! It's you, is it already that time.." Choromatsu looked at his wrist for the time, but he wasn't wearing a watch.

"Guess who approved our designs?" You dropped the charade and shyly procured the decorative bag of sweets.

"That's wonderful, congratulations. How did they turn out though?" He peered into the bag with a critical eye, "Is this how you will present them to her?"

"No, hers are safe in my room, these are yours to inspect, m'Nyaa-Lord. May they satisy you." Please. You internally begged, Choromatsu had already refused several of your designs and prototypes and you were growing tired of the rejection.

"S-Stop with the weird Nyaa titles, I hope you don't plan to do that in front of h-her.." He mumbled, "This packaging is really cute, I think she will like it.. or I hope she will."

"Well, do YOU like it?" You asked with a smile.

He yelped, "Y-Yes! Thank you for thinking of me.. and including me in all of this.."

You watched him as he carefully unwrapped each sweet with pink cheeks and shaking hands, he was soo cute and sweet, you couldn't help but comply with his shenanigans.

"Oh, wow.. These are lovely.." He said as he looked at each one carefully.

"Oh thank Nyaa! I was so scared you wouldn't like them!" You breathed a sigh of relief and sat next to him.

"How could I dislike them? They're b-beautiful." He was handling the Key Lime Tart, or as you called it, the Key LiMeow.

It was a small neon green tart with a pink crust. A simple cat decoration with Nyaa's signature green streaks symbolized by two delicate curls of lime rind were laid on top.

You had to admit, it was pretty freaking cute.

You went to pick up the Strawberry Shortcake Petit-Four, a sweet pink icing with a strawberry shortcake inside. For decoration, it had a slice of strawberry cut into a heart on top and a green paw-print icing design.

"Thank you, Choro! Want to try them?"

"You want me to eat these?! Eat.. the same thing Nyaa-Chan will eat?" He looked at the sweet and flushed bright red.

"You deserve it, let's share them!" You pulled out the last two sweets from the bag, a simple cookie shaped like a paw and a cat face, one in pink and the other in green.

Choro gulped audibly and nodded, but just kept staring at the tart and sweating.

You laughed, "You don't have to, but it would make me really happy to know what you think! I love seeing people enjoy my sweets."

"I-I want to!" He said as he went for it, taking a bite out of the tart.

You were about to hand him a fork, but you guessed it didn't really matter.

You took a bit out of the petit-four as well, "What do you think?"

He turned to you with teary eyes, "This is incredible! I'm so happy! Nyaa-Chan will be happy too, I hope!"

He was so energized, but then he noticed the fork, "O-Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.."

"No biggie, here!" You swapped your treats, "Now we can try the other one."

"B-But, t-that would be an…" He started, but you had already taken a bite out of the tart.

"I-I-I-INDIRICT K-K-K-KISS!" He shrieked and covered his mouth, almost dropping the pink cake.

You almost snorted laughing at his reaction, he was so pure, so sweet!

"I can cut off the part I bit if you don't want to!" You offered, but he quickly shook his head and shakily took a bite of your original cake.

He was sweating like he was in a sauna and you swear you saw smoke come out of his ears, but you ignored it and broke off a piece of the cookie instead, enjoying the view.

"You know, we could have a direct kiss if you wanted to." You said, half just to see his reaction and half because you were totally down to smooch the frog boy.

"W-Whaa— W-HAA—" He croaked, dropping his pastry, which thankfully landed on the packaging so it wasn't wasted.

"No pressure, just letting you know." You grinned, covering up a giggle and went into the kitchen to get a bag for the leftovers.

Choromatsu just gawked.

The next day you felt that you were finally fully prepared for the concert, you had gotten the treats approved by your two judges, you had gone over every possible scenario with Choromatsu, and frankly you were ready to just go for it!

Choromatsu, of course, had something else in mind.

"You.. You can't really be serious about wearing that to the concert, right?" He said blankly, staring at your attire.

"What's wrong with it? I'm trying to be casual, cute, but still professional." You frowned, looking over your outfit, you thought you looked nice!

"No, no way! You're not even showing your Nyaa Spirit! You probably don't want to wear a T-shirt, since it IS business, but you could at least wear her colors or something!"

Now it was your turn to stare, Choromatsu was very serious about this obviously, as he was wearing a head to two super-fan Nyaa-Chan get up.

"Okay, okay! I think I get it, I'll go change.."

You returned wearing a light pink blouse, a white skirt, and a green purse you dug out of your closet. "How's this?"

"That's better… But.." He procured a headband and some glowsticks from his pockets, "Won't you at least wear—"

"No."

"W-Wh.. Hmmph." He pouted and turned back into his room.

"Oops.." You thought you had hurt his feelings, but he returned a moment later.

"What about this?" He offered you a Nyaa Cat Ear headband, it even had green ribbons that resembled her hair.

"I.. Uh…" You sighed, "I guess, but I'm going to take it off before we meet her, okay?"

He smiled happily, "Okay!"

You chuckled, shaking you head lightly before putting your "ears" on.

"How do I look?"

He was about to answer when you felt someone touching your hair.

You spun around, thankfully suppressing your instinct to hit whoever was touching you as you knew it was probably a Matsu.

There was Ichimatsu, red faced and blissfully petting your hair as if you were a cat. You had accidentally startled him though, and his eyes widened as he snatched his hand back.

"Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! You like the ears, huh?" You giggled, you should have known.

"….Mn…" He grunted, and quickly walked into his room.

"Alrighty then, ready to go?" You turned to Choro, who was nervously studying your headband to make sure Ichimatsu didn't damage it.

"Yeah, let's go!" He said, after double checking his bags and yours to ensure you had everything.

"Oh, let's take our, uh, head attire off before we go though, we wouldn't want them to fly off!" You said walking out the door.

"Why would they fly off?…" He asked following you.

As you headed towards Totoko's garage he realized what you meant.

"W-We're going on that?!" he stammered.

"Well, we don't have to, but I figured it would be the fasted, and I wouldn't want the sweets to get crushed accidentally on the train."

He thought it over for a moment and then nodded, "I-I guess you're right.."

He tucked both of your headbands into his pockets, that robe was spacious! You secured your packages in your bags on the bike, then you tossed him a helmet.

"Don't worry, I have a brush so if you get helmet hair you won't have to see Nyaa-Chan like that!" You winked at him and started the bike after putting on your own helmet.

It took him several moments to compose himself, but eventually with some reassurance about the safety and your experience, he climbed on the back.

"Let me know when you're ready." You told him.

He nodded, "You can go!"

"Um, if you don't hold on you might fall off though.." He hadn't yet put his hands on your waist.

"H-Hold on? To what?…" He squeaked out, holding his hands up.

"To me, what else?" You looked at him, "Are you okay with that? I just don't want you to fall off.."

"Y-Yes! I can, I can do that!" He nodded so hard you thought the helmet may fly off.

You waited.

You waited more.

Finally you turned around, "Do you want to just take the train?"

"N-NOO! I can do this! Totty did it.. Shittymatsu did.. I-I can DEFINITELY do this!" He stammered, squeezing his eyes shut. He thrust his arms out and rigidly held your sides.

Well, that's better than nothing.

"You'll be alright, I promise! Let me know if you feel uncomfortable." You assured him and he nodded.

With that, you headed to the venue.

As you locked up your bike, Choromatsu was brimming with excitement, you didn't think he could have possibly been more excited than he had been this past week, but he was proving you wrong.

Choromatsu seemed to be flourishing in this environment. At home he seemed terribly anxious about the show, running through what felt like a thousand scenarios that may or may not happen based on his choices and coming up with a proper 'game plan'. However, he seemed totally in his element now that you have arrived.

You noticed several people recognized him as you approached the line, but they were eyeing you, probably wondering if you were with him or just walking by. Their quizzical looks amused you, and you had half a mind to reach out for Choromatsu's hand just to get a rise out of them.

However, he seemed to have read your mind and quickly crossed his arms and trotted towards the line with you following close behind.

He began chatting freely with his friends in line, failing to introduce you. Your feelings were a bit hurt, but you understood that he was just excited.

As you approached the beginning of the line, you procured the V.I.K. tickets and showed them to the guards.

He subtly pulled you out of line, as Choromatsu was loudly chatting up his friends, and asked, "Do you need anything from us? Please let us know at anytime during the show if you need assistance. After the show, please make your way to the bouncers near the stage and show them your ticket."

"Actually, could you please take this bag backstage? I would like to discuss somethings with Miss Nyaa-Chan after the show, they are quite fragile so please be careful."

"Yes ma'am, we will of course have to check the contents, but we will be incredibly delicate I can assure you."

You handed over the parcel and made your way back to Choromatsu. You happened to hear someone ask if you were with him, to which he scoffed and replied, "Of course not, you know I am still devoted as Nyaa-Chan as you all!"

All of his friends seemed relieved, and continued chatting. You felt yourself deflate a bit, you supposed competing with an Idol would be hard. Well, who knows, maybe Nyaa-Chan would want to get in on it. You chuckled trying to imagine Choromatsu's reaction to that.

You entered the venue and Choromatsu went back into the nervous, over-the-moon excited state he had been in all week. He grabbed your wrist and made a bee-line straight to the front of the stage.

Nyaa-Chan's music was fine, you did enjoy it, but what you really enjoyed was looking at Choromatsu's bubbling excitement throughout the show. Anyone could tell that this is his true passion. You were a little jealous, but on the other hand he was just soo cute screaming his sweet head off and singing his little heart out.

As the encore ended, you gingerly took his hand and weaved your way through the crowd to the backstage entrance, as instructed. He jerked in surprise at the contact and looked around anxiously. As soon as you broke through the crowd he squirmed out of your grip.

"Alright, you ready for this?" You asked, still a little nervous about his potential behavior in front of his beloved idol.

All he could do was nod, you didn't blame him.

You both entered the waiting room to see your package on a table surrounded by DO NOT ENTER tape, you could see that the body guard you had spoken to earlier was serious.

After retrieving your package you were about to offer Choromatsu a pep talk, but you were ushered to go into a different room. Judging by the paw print on the door, you could only assume who it would be.

Of course, you were greeted by a peppy Nyaa-Chan, you had no idea how after that show.

"Oh, I'm so glad mew could make it tonight!" Nyaa-Chan smiled happily, she was sitting in a lavish dressing room with about 200 bouquets and parcels from fans.

Suddenly, your offering felt meager. You hadn't expected to get cold feet after all of this.

As you were frozen in insecurity for a moment, Nyaa noticed Choromatsu next to you, who was sweating profusely and bright red.

"Mew is this? I was expecting.. The other woman." Nyaa said, surprised but still in a sing-song tone.

"Oh, this is Choromatsu my.. Uh, he's your biggest fan, maybe you remember the autograph?"

Before he could answer, she exclaimed, "Oh yes! I do rememfur, I believe we met one befur as well.." For a moment her expression faltered, "I'm sorry your time got cut short that time, but I will say I have nefur had an experience like that one befur!" Then she laughed dryly, "I'm happy to see it's only you here and not your twin!"

Choromatsu looked like he was about to wet himself, and you weren't sure in what way.

"Y-You.. Y-Y-Y-You, N-Nyaa-Chan, r-remember…." he gestured to himself.

She giggled lighter this time, "Well, it was certainly meowmerable!"

You thought he was going to pass out. It was so cute.

"T-T-Thank y-y-y-you…."

"We both really enjoyed the show, you were great!" You jumped in so he wouldn't start crying, he looked at you with a grateful expression.

"Thank mew both soo meowch!" She beamed brightly, then noticed your bag. "What is that? Is it fur me?"

Ah, you totally forgot about that. You were still unsure if you should give it to her or not.

Choromatsu seemed to notice, "S-She's a great c-c-cook." His voice kept cracking, "S-She's been working r-really hard…"

That was just about all he could muster, but you were grateful.

"My mentor and I were thinking you may be interested in trying more of our selection and seeing our work!" You began to unpack the sweets on a nearby table and explain the qualities of each one.

You were really engaged in your work, not looking at Choromatsu or Nyaa-Chan, but a shril shriek broke your focus.

Of course, it was Choromatsu.

You spun around to see a sheet-white Choromatsu screaming wide-eyed at a crying Nyaa-Chan.

It didn't take long for someone to bust in and accuse Choromatsu of something, but Nyaa-Chan waved them away just as fast.

"Are you okay?" You asked the both of them, relieved that Choromatsu was actually innoccent.

Choromatsu squeaked and nodded vigorously while looking over at Nyaa-Chan who was admiring your sweets with tears in her eyes.

"Are these really all fur me?" She asked, looking at you.

"W-Well, of course they are.. I thought that would be obvious by looking at them." You stumbled, trying to lighten the mood, "I mean, who else would neon cat sweets be fur?"

She smiled happily and wiped her eyes, "I'm so sorry for that, I-I.. Thank you.. This just means so much to me, _"

Then she did something that surprised you, she called you by your gang name in high school.

"W-What did you say?" You asked, shocked.

Nyaa-Chan gingerly took a sweet, nibbling on it while avoiding your gaze.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?.." You felt guilty for not remembering her, especially if she was one of your girls, but you knew that none of them had pink hair like that.

Choromatsu of course was gaping so widely his jaw was practically on the floor.

Nyaa-Chan picked up a different pastry and tried that one. Then she took a big breath, then handed you a photograph that was face-down on the table.

You flipped it over and both you and Choromatsu studied it, "Well, this is definitely me.."

The picture was from a high school track meet at a sport's festival. It showed a group of girls from your class, you included, right after you all won the meet.

Of course, you were in the middle. You were one of the best athletes at your school. There were a few of your girls standing next to you, you all looked so happy. Then there were a few other girls on the sidelines of the picture who were unlucky enough to be in your team. You remembered that they were happy to win using your strength, but still wanted to avoid you at all costs.

There was one girl though, she was always so quiet, and looked so plain even in the photo it was unfortunately easy to look over her. She was standing closer to you than the other girls, but still looked uncomfortable to some degree.

"Reika?!" You looked at her in utter surprise.

She audibly gasped and held her face in her hands, new tears forming in her eyes, "Y-You.. Remember me?..."

"I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you before, you look so different now, wow! Like, seriously, wow!" You went in to give her a hug, but Choromatsu stopped you.

"T-That is NOT regulated behavior for idol-fan interactions!" He screeched.

"Oh Choromatsu, come on, she's an old friend of mine!" You grumbled a bit, thinking those rules were a bit stuffy anyways.

"He is right.. I'm an idol now, there's certain things I can't do anymore.." She murmured shyly.

You thought back to when she hugged you in the bakery, "Did you get in trouble for before, in the bakery?"

She nodded, "Well, not quite, but I was reminded of my contract.."

"Well that's bullshit, you should be able to do what you want to!" You growled, "You want this though, don't you?"

Nyaa laughed lightly, "You haven't changed at all, I can tell.. You would go through so much trouble for me again if I asked.. But don't worry, I'm happy doing this."

She turned to Choromatsu, "My fans are so important to me, you all have given me so much. Thank you for reminding me of that."

Then she turned back to you, "You were the first person.. To give me any confidence.. At that track meet.." She took the photo back from you, gently, as if it was a treasure, "You were the only one who believed I could do it, you went out of your way to help me practice.. You actually saw me when no one else did.. I'm sorry I couldn't be there fur mew when mew needed it.."

You had no idea something that was so small to you meant so much to her, you were touched. "Nyaa-Chan, er, I mean Reika? I'm glad I could help you, but you helped me too at the meet! We wouldn't have won without you, and it was nice to be around someone who wasn't afraid or disgusted by me.. Even if you weren't interested in joining." You winked at her, remembering your offer. "So really, you were there for me, just in a different way!"

"I wanted to become Nyaa-Chan so that people could see me and believe in me like mew did then.. I wanted to help and inspire people like mew, and I really do want to keep doing that. Meeting people like Choromatsu really inspires me to keep doing my best. All my fans boost my confidence and give me the strength to keep going, and I want to do the same fur them!" She smiled widely, looking at you and Choromatsu.

"Y-You do, of c-course, you do that for us! Y-You're amazing N-Nyaa-Chan.. We, um and I, w-will always s-s-support you!" Choromatsu stammered out, he was really holding his own in front of his idol and you were impressed.

Nyaa-Chan extended her hands towards his to hold and shake them in thanks. You thought he might die. Then she turned to you.

"Please tell your mentor that these sweets were delicious, and that I will be in contact fur future orders.. Thank mew for coming to see me and fur making me these delicious treats. I really wanted to thank you for everything, I'm so happy I was finally able to. I couldn't believe it when we ran into each other!" She handed you a card with her contact information. "Let me know if you want to come see me again, I would love to have mew both in the audience as my V.I.K.s again!"

After saying your goodbyes, both you and Choromatsu stumbled out of the venue, a little confused about what had happened, but also feeling at peace. You didn't look at each other until you made it to your bike.

"Thanks for being here with me, I think I understand you a little better now. I really did have a fun time, and.. I needed your support in there, so thanks for that. You did great!"

Choromatsu flushed a bit, "T-Thanks.."

"I can't wait for our next date, I'm sure you are the type that will want to plan everything out, but let me know if you want me to do it!" You said cheerfully unlocking your bike.

"W-What?" His voice went up an octave and cracked.

You stood up and straddled the bike, "What, what? I mean, if you don't want to-"

"T-This was a D-D-DA-DATE?!" His shrill voice attracted the attention of other passerbys and he was grinning from ear to ear while simultaneously looking constipated.

"Well, I certainly thought so, but it doesn't have to-"

That had apparently broke Choromatsu, he screamed, something that sounded like a battle cry, and smushed his tightly closed lips against yours. Then before you could register, he jumped on the back clung to you, and screamed directly into your ear, "DRIVE!"

You reared your head back and laughed, but obliged and began the drive home.

His arms felt nice around your waist, and you were happy he was opening up to you more.


	14. Chapter 14: Gamble with the NEETs

When you first moved in all of the matsus, except Ichimatsu, had been clamoring over you, trying to impress you, do things for you, and the like. Now that you had been living together for a few months, you had also gotten to know the bratty side of some of the brothers.

Although, Osomatsu quickly fell out of the facade almost immediately. The whiny, freeloading Osomatsu was essentially the only one you knew, but you didn't mind. In fact, his honesty was actually nice.

Second was Totty, he would occasionally whine to you in a childlike, cute way that would make you giggle. After a while that turned into catty gossip and remarks and then all out complaining. You would often be roped into doing extra chores or things for him because of this, but similar to Osomatsu, you didn't really mind. That was just who Totty was and a different side of him.

You were quite surprised at the new, demanding side of Choromatsu that was revealed during the Nyaa Rituals before the concert. He had never been so assertive with you before, and after the concert he continued to whine a bit to get his way. You were just happy to get to know this new side of him, even though he would always revert to his rigid, sweaty self.

Jyushimatsu, Karamatsu, and ichimatsu had not undergone any real change. Jyushimatsu never really put up a front to begin with, and Kara had never stopped doting on you. Ichimatsu on the other hand…

You were still working on that one.

He was so painfully shy and introverted, sometimes it was pulling teeth to even get him to look at you (at least while you were looking at him) let alone talk. Most of your conversations were one-sided and filled with one word answers, grunts, and the infamous 'Tch'. Aside from that, Ichimatsu was the hardest brother to get any one on one time outside of short lunch breaks with since he was so elusive. He was always gone at home doing who knows what.

The one time you caught him at the cat cafe was sadly the most intimate you two had ever been. It seemed after that he immediately reverted back into his shell. Occasionally, you would admit, he would show some affection. A brisk pat on the shoulder. Every once in awhile he would lean against you if you were all sitting together. He had only ever held your hand that one time...

All of this somehow led into a game you and Jyushibee had come up with. It began with your usual wake up tickle fights. One day you were particularly rowdy and it turned into more of a wrestling match. This led you to realize that you really were losing some of your muscle and needed to be more active. So, you asked him if you could join him on his baseball training more often and if you both could spar and wrestle sometimes.

Once, Jyushimatsu decided to surprise attack you while you happened to be talking to the other five. He put you in the 'Octopus Hold' mid sentence and the others were speechless, except for Choromatsu who screamed, as you immediately began to wrestle your way out.

After a few moments you had pinned Jyushimatsu, you think he let you though as when he really tried you had never been able to really win, and both of you were rolling around giggling until Totty interrupted with a loud "Ehem!".

"Oh! That's right, what were we talking about?" You were brought back to reality, still quite entangled in Jyushimatsu's arms and legs, who was of course laughing loudly.

"Nevermind that, I want to get in on all of this! Just look at that contact." Osomatsu was almost drooling a bit, "It's not fair that only he gets to touch you all over, I am the oldest you know."

"Oh yes, how could I ever forget." You chuckled. There was the complaining, whiney Osomatsu you knew.

Suddenly you had an idea, "Sure I don't mind wrestling you, but I _bet_ I would win."

Osomatsu's eyes lit up, he was after all a gambling man. "You bet? Bet what?"

"Hmmm… well, first what do you bet?"

He didn't hesitate for a moment, "If I win I get to do you."

His immature language and request was not surprising at all, as he frequently talked about sex and was always trying to get handsy after your drunken encounter.

"Sure, that's fine." You smirked, wanting to see their reaction.

All of them looked at you, including Jyushimatsu, with complete shock, and then all of them began bickering and yelling at once.

Shouts of "Not fair!", "It should be me!", and "Prostitution!" along with general grumbles filled the room.

You could even feel Jyushimatsu get a little excited, so you untangled yourself and stood up to explain.

"I don't make bets I'm sure I won't win or that I wouldn't mind losing." You winked, you had to keep them guessing. In all honesty, you knew you would win against Osomatsu. His constant drinking and sedentary lifestyle left him very soft, which you thought was incredibly endearing, but you knew you could overpower him in an instant.

"If I win though, you have to quit gambling of any kind for one week!"

"Deal!" He exclaimed, a little drool spilling over his lips. He was confident, or just desperate to win, but….

After he 'warmed up' and faced off against you, you did win within a few moments.

He was completely crushed. You felt a little bad about the whole thing.

"Me next!" Jyushimatsu waved his arms frantically.

"You already had a turn!" Choromatsu groaned.

"Oh, did you actually want a go?" You said, still sitting on top of Osomatsu's back pinning him to the floor.

"N-No.. I know I wouldn't win.." Choromatsu sighed.

You couldn't help but wonder what he would've asked for. Perhaps another concert?

You glanced at Totty, he looked incredibly disappointed as well. You had assumed the order of strength with the brothers did have Choromatsu and Todomatsu at the bottom, and it seemed you were right.

"I wouldn't even dream of touching my delicate flower in that way, a rose as beautiful as that should be treasured above all else." Karamatsu procured a rose out of thin air and handed it to you, causing you to release Osomatsu.

"Aw, that's nice, but I think it's fun to rough-house a bit! It's fine if you don't want to though."

"Ah, well… If you really want to.." Karamatsu flushed a bit, looking a little nervous.

You really didn't want to hurt anyone else's pride, but you were also incredibly curious at where Karamatsu ranked. If you had to guess, it would probably be above Osomatsu and under Jyushimatsu.

"What do you bet then?" You asked, placing the rose in a nearby cup.

"I am already the happiest, luckiest, most honored man in the world just to be in your presence, my sweet." Karamatsu clutched a hand to his chest, closing his eyes and furrowing his brows.

"Knock it off, Shittymatsu! Be honest." Osomatsu grumbled, still sore from his loss.

You rolled your eyes playfully and knelt down to where he was still laying on the ground and petted his hair as consolation.

He sat up and nuzzled into your chest, "I think I need to be consoled…"

"You are such a baby!" You giggled and continued petting his hair.

He of course, was quite pleased at getting away with his behavior and Karamatsu cut his eyes in jealousy.

"I wager.. A weekend away with only you." He said quietly.

"Ooo, that sounds like a fun bet to lose! I'm game, If I win I want to hear a new, original Karamatsu exclusive song."

"Don't lose on purpose or it won't be fair.." Todomatsu grumbled crossing his arms, there was your lovely bratty boy!

"I would never lose on purpose, I'm too competitive!" You grinned, "I'm just saying it sounds nice."

Karamatsu was obviously flattered at both your request and your enthusiasm about his. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and then he took off his leather jacket to prepare.

"Ooo, serious business time no jacket mode, got it." You teased, and since you were genuinely curious as to his strength you lunged first.

You knocked him off his feet, but he was able to hold his own for a bit. It took a few minutes of tussling around, all the other brother's watched anxiously, but you had much more stamina than he did. In the end, it was another win for you.

Karamatsu was also a bit dejected, but at the same time he immediately sat down to start writing in excitement.

"That was so fun! Alright, who's next? I can probably do one more at full strength."

You realized that only Ichimatsu was left, and he had been completely silent the entire time. When you looked at him his eyes widened a bit and then he quickly turned away, eyes on the floor.

"Tch."

"Aw, c'mon Ichimatsu, I've actually been wondering, I have a gut feeling that you're actually pretty strong! I think it would be really fun.."

Everyone waited for his response.

He stayed silent for a moment more.

Shoved his hands in his pockets.

Mumbled something under his breath.

Finally, he gave you the tiniest nod you had ever seen.

It was decided, you two would wrestle.

You just hoped you could win.

Jyushimatsu began cheering and chanting in excitement, but the others looked a little nervous.

You did a few stretches, honestly you were pretty excited. Ichimatsu just stood there with his hands in his pockets.

"You are actually going to try right?" Osomatsu asked him, but he just looked at him with heavy lidded eyes and frowned.

"Listen, if I were you… I would take advantage of this opportunity, just a little advice from your older brother." Osomatsu attempted to whisper, but Ichimatsu swatted him away.

"What's the wager going to be?" You inquired, ready to rumble.

"...Doesn't matter…"

"Of course it does! That's part of the fun."

"...I'm only doing this because you want to… whatever.." He grumbled, shoving his hands deeper in his hoodie.

"Well, if I win we are going to have an hour dedicated to just talking to each other, how does that sound?"

He shrugged.

"C'mon, you gotta bet something!" Osomatsu whined again.

"He doesn't need to do anything he doesn't want to, Osomatsu." You chided.

"..." He looked like he was struggling to say something.

You waited patiently.

"...We could…." He gritted his teeth, "This is dumb…"

"If you want, you can decide afterwards! However, if it's out of my comfort zone I'll refuse."

He nodded, looking relieved.

"Okie dokie, then let's get this party started!"

Jyushimatsu had gotten some popcorn and was waiting for the show to start.

You assumed you would have to make the first move, so you went for a tackle to try and knock him off his feet.

Surprisingly, he was steady and you were locked in a standstill already.

Maybe this would be harder than you thought!

After struggling against each other for a few minutes, finally your footing slipped and he almost pinned you, but you were able to roll to the side. You tackled him again knocking him back onto the floor, but again he was able to prevent you from gaining the upper hand.

After a few more minutes of this, you were getting a little tired. You had already used up some of your energy, but still Ichimatsu was stronger than you thought. Even fully refreshed you weren't sure if you could beat him.

Looking at him constantly for nearly ten minutes was clearly embarrassing him and was probably distracting him a bit. You wondered how much stronger he would be if he was more comfortable.

He was trying desperately to maintain his deadpan look, but was failing as you kept smiling and laughing. You were having a lot of fun, but you would have to clench your teeth every once in awhile to avoid losing.

Eventually, your body just gave out and he pinned you, his face completely flushed as he was hovering over you.

"ONE, TWO, THREE, STRIKE!" Jyushimatsu rung the mysterious winner's bell that had suddenly appeared.

The other brothers had been cheering for you the whole time, and were very upset at your loss.

Ichimatsu was even more embarrassed at your position, and he lifted off of your arms so you could move.

You just gazed happily into his eyes, very impressed. You couldn't help yourself, as soon as your were freed you gave him a sweaty hug, "Wow.. You're amazing Ichimatsu!".

Totty had a water and a towel ready for you as you had worked up a sweat and shoved it in your face to interrupt the hug, "Here you go!~"

Ichimatsu just blushed more and grumbled turning away from you while simultaneously squirming out of your grasp, probably overwhelmed by all the physical contact over the past ten or so minutes, "'S nothin…"

"Just let me know when you figure out what you want." You smiled, taking a gulp of water and thanking Totty, "Good match! Let's do that again sometime."

Ichimatsu just grunted and wandered off to recuperate alone.

After a few hours, when you had freshened up, you had surprisingly been left alone. Totty had a shopping date, Jyushimatsu went off to practice, Osomatsu to Pachinko, Choromatsu had a fan club meeting, and Karamatsu had been missing ever since you lost to Ichimatsu, presumably he was working tirelessly on your request.

It was very rare to have such a quiet moment. Normally, you would have taken this time to practice your baking without interruption, but instead you felt compelled to look for the victor of the bet to check on him.

So off you went, checking the different rooms of the house for Ichimatsu. Eventually, you finally found him just when you were about to give up.

"Do you always hide in here when you want some alone time? I was just a little worried, but if you want to be alone I can go back to the kitchen and start cooking." You had knocked lightly on his parent's room door to alert him to your presence.

Still, he looked up at you in surprise, "Oh….. Did.. Everyone else leave?"

You nodded, "Yup! It's just us for now at least."

"Mm.." He mumbled, playing with the orange cat you frequently saw him with.

"Your cat is so cute, and he obviously loves you soo much! I wish I was that good with animals." You smiled, you had always liked animals but they usually ran away from you.

"Tch. He doesn't. He's just stuck with me, like you are." Ichimatsu smiled sinisterly, his heavy-lidded eyes cold.

"Stuck with you? How so?"

"You live here with the garbage. You were tricked." He stood up and walked past you to the living room, the cat following him.

You laughed loudly, "Oh Ichimatsu. You're always such a kidder. You know full well I enjoy living here very much!"

"Hmph.." He grunted.

"Don't.. You enjoy living with me too?" You asked cautiously.

You could see his body jolt, and he answered hastily "Of course not."

"Oh… Well, you won they bet so you can always make me move out." You shrugged it off, you felt pretty confident that he was just.. Being Ichimatsu. Although, his response still made your heart ache a little. A part of you feared that it was true.

You went into the kitchen to clear your head.

You began pulling out recipes to review them, see what could be fixed or adjusted.

Maybe.. You should be adjusted.

Was it really alright to live here? Did the Matsunos really like it?

Negative thoughts swirled in your head and you could not shake them.

"Oh, screw this, I'm just going to talk to him." You muttered, you couldn't sit without some resolution.

You swung around to leave and walk to through the door, as you had been right by it for the bookshelf, and literally ran into Ichimatsu himself.

The impact knocked you back, but you were shocked that you had not fallen backwards.

To your surprise, Ichimatsu's arms were steadying you. Maybe spending all his time with cats had really given him cat-like reflexes.

"I-Ichimatsu! What were you doing in the door?"

He just gaped at you, eyes wider than normal, struggling to say anything.

"Can I hug you?" You suddenly asked, feeling that both of you needed a bit of comfort.

He nodded and you both embraced.

You held him tightly, nuzzled into the crook of his neck. He was really warm. He was holding you too, but his arms would twitch every so often.

"I'm… sorry…" He murmured and clutched your back harder.

"Ichimatsu… It's okay." You nuzzled into him and he froze again.

"I knew you didn't mean it, but if you don't mean those kinds of things.. Maybe we could work on not saying them to begin with?"

He nodded, "I'll try…. For you."

You were touched, your heart fluttered happily.

"It's nice to be alone with you.." You said, and really, it was. You really had trouble getting Ichimatsu alone.

"Mm.." He leaned his head onto your shoulder relaxing a bit.

"Did you decide what you wanted for your win?"

He shook his head.

"That's okay, do you want to go out for a bit? Maybe go on a walk and get something to eat?"

He nodded this time, but he was still holding onto you.

You giggled lightly, who knew Ichimatsu could be so affectionate when he was away from his brothers?

You shifted so that you could kiss his cheek, "Let's go then before anyone comes home." Not that you didn't want to see the others, but they would get their turn.

He nodded again, his cheeks a light pink.

You grabbed your purse and his hand and headed out the door.

"Ahhh." You stretched in the sunlight, "it's a nice day out today, it's been chilly recently."

"Mhmm…" Ichimatsu mumbled, his hand sweating a bit. "The leaves are going to all die soon."

"well, that's one way of looking at it." You chortled, "personally, I like the orange leaves and look forward to that."

He smiled slightly, "you would, you're always seeing the best in things.. even trash like me."

"Oh Ichimatsu, I will spend the rest of this day pampering you with affection if you don't stop it!" You nuzzled your lips against his soft plump cheeks.

He flushed of course, "then do it. That's what I want… for winning."

"Oh!" His response surprised you, but you definitely didn't mind. "Physically, vocally or both?"

"Both." He looked away in embarrassment.

"Alrighty then!" You chirped happily. This was what you wanted after all, and now you had permission! Today was going to be awesome.

To start, you released his hand and linked your arm with his, leaning against him softly as you kept walking

"Ahhh." You stretched in the sunlight, "it's a nice day out today, it's been chilly recently."

"Mhmm…" Ichimatsu mumbled, his hand sweating a bit. "The leaves are going to all die soon."

"well, that's one way of looking at it." You chortled, you were entering the park near their house. "personally, I like the orange leaves and look forward to that."

He smiled slightly, "you would, you're always seeing the best in things.. even trash like me."

"Oh Ichimatsu, I will spend the rest of this day pampering you with affection if you don't stop it!" You nuzzled your lips against his soft plump cheeks.

He flushed of course, "then do it. That's what I want… for winning."

"Oh!" His response surprised you, but you definitely didn't mind. "Physically, vocally or both?"

"Both." He looked away in embarrassment.

"Alrighty then!" You chirped happily. This was what you wanted after all, and now you had permission! Today was going to be awesome.

To start, you released his hand and linked your arm with his, leaning against him softly as you kept walking.

"I really like just being close to you." You smiled, today you would verbalized all of your positive feelings for Ichimatsu. "I want to get to know you better."

He stiffened a bit, but kept walking, "Me too."

"Are you worried about people looking at us again?"

"Mm… I guess. Not really." He shrugged.

"I'm not, I would like it if they thought you were my boyfriend."

He froze. Stopped walking completely. Stared at you with a bright, deep red face and wide eyes.

"Oops, am I sharing too much? You did say to pamper you.." you giggled. He was so cute!

"I didn't say to lie to me…" his flush was still there, but he looked down and his eyes returned to normal.

"I wouldn't dream of lying to you, I'll tell you a thousand times until you believe me. If that's what it takes. I really, truly like you Ichimatsu." You started to blush now, you were getting pretty personal!

"You… would want garbage to be your boyfriend? Six pieces of garbage?" He asked, still unsure but looking at you again.

"None of you are garbage. But sure, I'll be the Princess of Garbage if that's what I have to do!" You smiled at him.

He laughed, you didn't think you had ever heard him laugh before. As you looked at him, eyes shut in happiness, a slight smile on his lips with his hand covering his mouth a bit, you felt your cheeks get warmer.

He looked beautiful.

"Princess of… that's too much. Maybe you should be a comedian instead of a Patissiere." He snorted and opened his eyes to see you looking at him with big warm eyes.

"W...Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, embarrassed again.

"I think I'm really falling for you."

It came out of your mouth without even thinking about it. You had sort of turned your filter off since he had asked. But it was true. You were really falling for all of them when you thought about it…

Both of you stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak but also just enjoying the moment. You thought about leaning in to kiss him, and maybe he was thinking the same as he kept looking down at your lips, but both of you were interrupted.

"HEY! It's that little slut and her neutered bowl-cut bitch!" A crass voice yelled. You turned and saw a man at the "Karamatsu Bridge" that was a few yards ahead of you.

"Who is that guy?" You muttered, trying to place him.

"Can't believe you're still with that guy after you had a taste of me, even though you nearly tore my friggin' arm off. Why don't you come over here and I can give you another taste, although I can't promise I'll be as gentle as last time." The guy maintained some distance but was heading your way.

"Oh my god, not again." You groaned, "what a loser! He thinks you're Karamatsu.." you hissed to Ichimatsu.

"Mm." Was all he replied. You were sure he had been told that story by now. Ichimatsu looked different.. the look in his eyes reminded you of the night he threatened you when he was drunk. He looked menacing, with dull eyes and a sinister aura around him.

The guy began spouting off more insults, a few at Ichimatsu/Karamatsu, but most of them demeaning vulgar messages about you.

You stepped forward to face off with the jerk, but Ichimatsu put his arm out to stop you.

"Don't bother yourself with this shit." Was all he said, his smile reminded you of a horror villain.

"What the fuck did you say?" The guy growled.

Ichimatsu stepped forward, "You obviously need to learn your place, and how to speak to a Princess. You piece of dirt."

You had never seen him be so bold. No one had ever stood up for you like this before. People have said all sorts of vile things about you, and at one point you did have a whole gang of people who would fight on your behalf, but you always fought for yourself not wanting them to get hurt. Part of you felt the same now, you didn't want Ichimatsu to get hurt for your sake, but another part…

Another part did like being the "princess" for once. Another part made your heart tremble with gratitude and affection. Another part had you feeling more for Ichimatsu than you ever had before.

You felt like you were loved, treasured. And it felt amazing.

However, the cursing man was sort of dampening your moment.

Ichimatsu was just blankly staring at the guy as he continued to yell expletives and insults at both of you. Then he walked over to him, the guy stepped forward to try and hit him, but Ichimatsu dodged and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"Don't talk to her again." Was all he said, and then he threw the guy way down the river.

"Hopefully he can swim.." You whispered, but you were thoroughly impressed.

You walked up to Ichimatsu and wrapped your arms around him from the back, "My hero~ Thank you for that.. I'm not really used to that sort of thing."

He smirked, turning his head to face you, "'S nothin'.."

"I think it deserves a special reward." You winked at him and slide to his front.

You both looked at each other for a moment to give him a bit of warning, and then you lifted up to give him a kiss.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, gently kissing him. He gingerly touched your waist and remained still, scared he would mess up.

You pulled back after a few moments as you were afraid he wasn't breathing through his nose, "You're amazing, Ichimatsu!~"

"I think I need more.. Practice.." He turned pink and glanced away. "Since I have you all day, I think I could improve.."

You blinked in surprise, and before you could say anything he leaned down and kissed you again.

It was his day after all.


	15. Chapter 15: Drink with the NEET Round 2

Karamatsu had just finished completing his end of the bet, singing you a "Karamatsu Original" serenade as the two of you sat on the roof. His face was beat red as he nervously looked at you for a reaction.

Your smile was so wide your eyes were closed in happiness, "Wow!~ That's the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you, I loved it."

You open your eyes to see Karamatsu smiling with teary eyes, you know from living here that the poor guy rarely gets praise.

You sigh happily and lean across his guitar to give him a kiss, right on the mouth.

His eyes widen in surprise, then flutter close. This was his first kiss after all.

"I think you earned that. Can you write down the lyrics for me? I want to make sure they never get lost or forgotten." You smile happily after pulling back, he just nods awestruck.

"OI! PAINFULMATSU!" A voice calls from down below, startling poor Karamatsu. He starts to rapidly slide down the roof, but your quick instincts allow you to easily grab him before he falls off.

You stand and pull him up, one hand on his arm the other on his waist, "You okay, my musical lover boy?" You smile, teasing him a bit.

"T-Thank you my princess! You have saved me once again." He says breathlessly and stammering.

"Think nothing of it." You giggle, then the voice returns.

"Stop hogging her! I neeeeed her, come down here!" The voice whines, judging from your PhD in Matsuno, your bet was Osomatsu.

The two of you safely make your way down and Karamatsu kisses your hand before departing to procure the lyrics to his love ballad.

Low and behold it was dear whiney Osomatsu who was calling for you.

"Hey babe! Guess what, guess what!" He smiles, rubbing his nose with a wink, but continuing before you can answer him, "The week is up! I can gamble again starting today."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about our bet." You say nonchalantly.

"WHAT? It was soo hard, I was struggling so much, you're too cruel not to notice!" He whined again tugging on your arm now.

"Osomatsu, it was clearly a joke, you were complaining about it every day." You snort with a smile.

"Ohhh, you're so smart." He grins again, "Now that I can gamble again, I want to challenge you, to another bet! I KNOW I will win this time."

"You are an addict, Oso." You roll your eyes, "What's the wager?"

"I bet you can't tell us brothers apart." He says matter of factly.

Now it's your turn to grin, "You're on."

Before you knew it you were sitting across from the six brothers, all wearing the same shirt (non-color coded) with blank expressions.

"I can't believe you guys think I can't tell you apart, I've been living here for how long now?" You chided, then began rattling off the names, "Choromatsu, Todomatsu, Ichimatsu, Karamatsu…" You paused, thinking for a moment, "Jyushimatsu, but you are really good at imitating the others buddy! And finally our boi Osomatsu."

Jyushimatsu beamed with pride at your praise, deliberately putting a show of mimicking each of his brothers with spot on precision.

You couldn't help but laugh, "That's amazing! You almost got me. Can you do the voices too?"

Before he could answer you, Osomatsu piped up and you realized the other five brothers were looking at you in surprise, "How in the world did you get that right?! NO ONE gets that right! Even our parents mix us up sometimes."

"Lucky guess?" You say, "Just kidding, you think I can't tell my boyfriends apart?"

The surprise look intensified, and you felt your cheeks heat up. Had you really just called them your boyfriends? They truly practically were, but you had never discussed… well, you supposed you sort of had with Karamatsu and Ichimatsu, but not really.

Jyushimatsu bounced around the room happily chanting, per usual. Totty pulled out his phone to update his relationship status on social media. Karamatsu fainted. Ichimatsu looked nauseous. You swear Choromatsu pulled out some sort of romance self-help book and was frantically flipping through the pages.

"I guess it's official then?" You chuckled, feeling a wave of relief.

"Does this mean we can have sex now?" Was all Osomatsu said.

You busted out laughing, loudly. "Maybe later."

That was enough for him, "Yessss! Mom and dad will be so proud."

"Anyways, I win the bet, but what were we betting on again?"

"I was going to ask to do you. You never said what you wanted, is it sex?" Osomatsu said eagerly.

"Not this time." You roll your eyes, "How about we go out on the town, USA style. You never went to college and you are ALWAYS asking me about the 'American College Experience', so how about I show you tonight?"

"It feels like I didn't even lose!" He grins, "You're on!"

After cooking and serving dinner, along with getting a little dolled up for your night on the town Osomatsu and you were ready to head out. You had picked out a nice outfit to go out in, but nothing too flashy. Karamatsu and Todomatsu desperately wanted to tag along, but per the rules of the bet they didn't. You promised to take them all out another time.

Osomatsu wolf whistled when he saw you, "Wowww, you look really good. Like, really good. Maybe we should skip the party and head straight to a hotel?" The poor boy was almost drooling.

You blushed lightly, "Oh Oso, stop it. I won the bet and we are going, it'll be fun to let a load off!"

The others continued to grumble in jealousy. You made sure to give them each a bit of attention before you headed out the door.

You walked hand in hand towards the train and rode it down town, as you didn't want to drive home if you had been drinking. Although, you planned on pacing yourself this time. It was more of the experience of going out on the town with Osomatsu you were looking forward to, rather than the drinking.

It seemed that Osomatsu was looking forward to that too, as he had been non-stop bragging about how he was sure to be a hit at the clubs, that you would probably have to start chasing other women away from him, how he would outdrink everyone there while still keeping his cool, etc.

You just giggled playfully, nodding along. Every so often he would ask you about a story from your college or rowdy high school days and you would oblige.

Finally you arrived down town, even though you did enjoy leaning on your… boyfriend's shoulder on the train. You were still getting used to that.

You hadn't been downtown in a long time. Not that when you went back in the day you really went clubbing, only around the clubs in the alleys and such.

You chuckled, it was still beautiful, all the lights up and down the streets were like neon rainbows.

"Let's go, let's go!" Osomatsu cheered, tugging you down the street.

"Okay, okay!" You laughed, getting out your wallet to pay for the entry into the club.

"Whaaaa, you gotta pay to go in?" Osomatsu asked in surprise.

"Wow, you really haven't been anywhere besides those old-man bars have you, Oso?" You teased gently as you stood in line.

"Heheh, guess not." He wiped his nose, smiling his usual cheeky grin.

You thought he was cute as a button, perfectly Osomatsu in his red hoodie and jeans even in downtown Tokyo. You're sure he didn't even think to dress up, as all the people around you were, but it suited him.

After doing your best to keep the bored boy's attention (he really was like a kid sometimes, who can't stand in line for 10 minutes without whining?) entertained, you miraculously made it to the front of the line and into the building.

"WOW! IT'S SO LOUD!" Osomatsu hollered into your ear.

"WHAT?" You joked, even though you could hear him. You took his arm and walked him over to the bar away from the dance floor.

"It's quieter over here, let's get a drink before we hit that mess." You gestured to the aforementioned dance floor.

Osomatsu stared at the mass of people, "Are we really going in there?"

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to, babe." You smiled waving over the bartender and ordering a round.

"Of course I want to, it looks great. I bet we would be reaaaally close in there right, so we wouldn't get separated?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Ha, I guess you're right. Most people dance close together in places like this anyways." You winked, gesturing over to some couples.

Osomatsu's eyes widened and he grinned widely.

However, he didn't quite get what he expected.

At first, he was loving the dance floor. Being so close to you, being able to touch you, he could've just died in happiness.

Your smiling face was soo cute, he loved that you were singing along to the music. When a song came on that he knew, he would join you even though he had an awful singing voice, not that you could really tell since it was so loud and he didn't care anyways.

The two of you were laughing and holding each other, then doing silly dances just for fun, it was a blast.

Although… he couldn't help but notice all the looks you were getting from other guys, and he did not like that one bit. He maybe would've liked it better if he was getting some looks himself, but no one was paying attention to him except you. When someone did notice him, they would snicker and look away. It was obvious people were confused about the two of you being there together.

He did his best to ignore it and decided it was time for round two, so he leads you back to the bar by your hand.

"I'll get the drinks this time, baby." He winks at you and smiles, his attempt at being suave but he's already blushing.

You put a hand to your mouth and giggle, smiling. "I'm honored!~"

Of course, the bartender takes a lot longer to come over when it's a dude waving him down than a girl. In the meantime another bartender has brought you over a drink.

"Oh, I didn't order this." You say, pushing it back to the man.

"The guy over there did." He says with a wink and walks away, leaving you a napkin with, presumably, the mystery man's number on it.

You and Osomatsu turn to the guy, who blows you a kiss.

You meekly wave back, but point to Osomatsu and then you, and back to the drink and then him. Asking him if he wants his drink back because you are taken.

The guy frowns at first obviously disappointed, but waves you off, letting you keep it with a forced smile.

You felt a little guilty, but hey it's a free drink.

Osomatsu does not look as happy.

"What was that?" He asks grumpily.

"Oh, nothing major. I told him I already had a cutie over here." You smile, trying to diffuse the situation with a quick peck to Oso's cheek.

He takes the bait, smiling dopily with heavy lidded eyes, "Hehe…" he touches his cheek softly as you manage to wave down the bartender finally.

"Bring over like, 3 rounds of shots since you take so long." Osomatsu said, not caring if he was rude.

"That is one way of ordering.." The bartender said, you shot him an apologetic smile and slipped him your card.

"That is a lot of liquor, Osomatsu. I wasn't planning on drinking that much tonight." You said, after all you have had two drinks already at this point and had just taken a shot.

"Fine, more for me then, sweetcheeks!" He giggles, already feeling a bit tipsy, and takes a double.

You wonder if you should stop him or not, he does have a high tolerance, but he is usually drinking sake or beer, not whatever it was he had ordered.

Your thoughts took too long to process, as he had already downed another double and was reaching for a fifth, "Nope!" you say and quickly take it yourself.

"Oh you!~~" He says, slurring a bit. "Let's go dance again, I'm feeling good now. I won't let anyone look at you, but me.. Even though it's so hard because you're so sexy." He eyed you up and down, smiling.

"Oh Osomatsu." You chuckled, "C'mon then." you took his arm in case he was already that far gone and moved to the dance floor.

Once again the two of you were having a good time, a really good time actually. Osomatsu was being hilarious, making you laugh with silly dance moves and singing loudly to the songs, regardless of whether he knew the words or not.

All the sudden, you could tell something was wrong. Maybe the alcohol was getting to him, or something else?

You make eye contact and you can tell he wants to leave. You grab his hand and make your way outside to get some fresh air.

"You okay?" You ask him softly as you get to the sidewalk outside.

"Yeah.. I think I just need some air." He mumbled, you took the hint and the two of you went on a slow walk away from the loud, crowded club.

"What's wrong, butter-bean?" You ask, sweetly.

"Butter bean? You're worse than Karamatsu." He laughs, scoffing and rolling his eyes.

"What can I say, ~baby~, I'm just worried about you is all." You say as you give his hand a squeeze.

Osomatsu sighed, "It's just.. I had fun, definitely, who wouldn't when they're out on the town with a hot babe on their arm, but I just.. It didn't go how I thought it would."

Osomatsu took your silence as a cue to go on, "I just.. people were looking at me weird, and I realized I look like a scrub next to you. Everyone was thinking why a loser like me was with a model like you."

"Oh Oso.." You couldn't help but blush, "I think you're exaggerating a tad, I'm no model and you're not a scrub. I like you just as you are and next time someone looks at you funny tell me and I'll belt them one." You held up a fist with a determined look.

"Heh.. Thanks" He smiled and laughed a bit. He even rubbed his nose a little.

"There's my handsome guy." You smiled softly and looked at him through your lashes.

Now it was his turn to blush, "Heheh.. well, what can I say?" He scratched the back of his head and looked back at you. The two of you had walked long enough to be mostly alone, save the passerby every so often.

You looked at each other with warm eyes and cheeks, you wanted to show Osomatsu how special you thought he was. He wanted to show you, well, what he always did.

The two of you leaned in slowly, lips meeting softly. Your eyes fluttered close as you enjoyed the sweet moment. You were a little surprised Oso wasn't trying to slip in some tongue, but this was your first kiss together.

You pulled back after a moment and the poor boy's face was as red as his hoodie. Even a soft, sweet kiss excited this one.

"I really like you, Osomatsu." You giggled.

He looked at you with a dopey grin and heavy eyes, "Me too…" Then suddenly his expression changed to shock, and he quickly turned towards the building behind you two and threw up.

"Ah.. those shots got to you didn't they." You said after a brief moment of shock yourself, "Or was the kiss that bad?" You rubbed his back slowly as he finished up and wiped his mouth.

"Definitely the first. MAN! I can't believe I just—" He turned around and heaved again, "This is so embarrassing… Finally on a date with the girl I like and I throw up like a baby… My brothers would never let me live it down."

"I won't tell them, don't worry. There's no reason to be embarrassed, it's just me." You felt bad for the guy, he was already having some sour thoughts tonight and now this.

"Do you want to head back?" You ask him softly, continuing to rub his back.

"N-No…" He muttered, "I can't go back like this, they'll totally know."

"Hmm.." You paused to think for a moment. "I guess we could find a motel or something for the night."

Osomatsu immediately perked up, his face flushing again and he stared at you with wide eyes, "R-Really?!"

"Well, yeah why not? But before you get too excited, none of that stuff is gonna happen tonight. You are pretty drunk, and you already threw up once, we don't want an encore of that."

He rubbed his neck, "Fine, fine… Having you to myself all night, even without all that, will still be really nice."

You blushed a bit and nodded, "Alright, it's settled then, let's go find a room."

Not long after, you both have checked into a small hotel room, which of course shared a bed.

"You sure you're okay sharing a bed?" You ask him, not wanting to push.

"Psh! I've waited my whole life for this moment, I'm more than okay with it." He assures you, then goes to brush his teeth.

As he's in the bathroom you realize you have no pajamas and no clothes for tomorrow. "Gross.." You mutter, thinking about wearing your club clothes home. You shrug, then focus on the bigger problem of what to wear now.

About this time, Oso has come out of the bathroom, "You wearing a shirt under that hoodie, Oso?"

"Hm? Yeah, why?" He says a little confused.

"Can I wear your hoodie as pajamas? I just realized we really don't have anything else, and I definitely don't want to sleep in this."

He looks at you like a deer in the headlights, "W-Wha.. You wanna?… hehehe…" Internally, he was praising the heavens, he couldn't wait to see what you looked like wearing his hoodie. Even better, what you would look like sleeping next to him the next morning… He was in heaven. His brothers will be SO jealous.

"Sure, sure! Of course." He says, taking it off and handing it to you, as he did so his clothes lifted up to reveal a little bit of tummy. You could feel your cheeks turning a light pink, he was so cute!

"Thanks!" You smile enthusiastically and can't help but give him a hug on the way to the bathroom to change.

When you return he's sitting on the bed wearing his undershirt, socks, and boxers. He was kicking his legs back and forth on the bed like a kid, and his smile reminded you of Jyushimatsu. He had his shirt pulled down for obvious reasons. When he turned to see you wearing your socks and his hoodies, no pants, he passed out.

"O-Osomatsu!?" You cried, running to the bed. "Are you okay?"

His face and eyes were sheet white and black, except for the blood trickling out of his nose.

"Osomatsu!… What am I going to do with you?" You shook your head, and tucked him into bed. Quickly turning off the light and joining him.

Now that you thought about it, you were a bit flustered. You put a hand to your cheek and felt the heat, and you heart was pounding.

You were sharing a bed with your boyfriend, even if he's passed out… You gently snuggle up to his arm and shut your eyes. His chest was warm and you could feel his heartbeat, it was so soothing..

Before you knew it, it was morning. You woke up to see Osomatsu just looking at you, with soft eyes and rosy cheeks.

"G-Good morning beautiful.." He said, quietly. He sounded so sweet and sincere, you were a little surprised.

"Good morning, handsome." You giggled in return, he then surprised you again by gently pulling you into a kiss. You placed your hands on his chest as you enjoyed this rare quiet moment.

When you pulled away, both of you were looking at each other with understanding smiles.

Then you heard your phone buzz.

When you picked it up you had about 500 missed calls and texts on your phone from the others. You sheepishly called them to apologize and they all started screaming in unison questions, so you hung up.

"We better get back…" You mumble, feeling a little guilty but not regretting your night together.

"We'll get there soon enough, they can wait a little longer." Osomatsu said calmly, leaning in to kiss you again.

It didn't take long for you both to check out and get home. Immediately you were cried on and hugged desperately, then the 5 brothers drug the eldest out of the house for who knows what.

"Some things never change.." You laugh, making your way inside and setting down your purse. That's when you notice the blink on the phone receiver.

"I wonder if it's that 'zansu' salesperson again…" You mutter as you push the button to listen to the voicemail.

"Hello my little Neets! It's mommy and daddy, who are very much in love again. We can't wait to come home and be one big happy family again! I missed taking care of you all, who would've imagine that? We are so proud of you for taking care of the house all by yourselves! Very impressive. Alright, we love you, we will be home in one week! Bye bye!"

Your heart stopped as you froze in spot as you listened to the message. The room started spinning and you blacked out.


End file.
